Our Voltimum Experts answer your questions on a daily basis in our Technical Expertise area. This one, concerning a solar photovoltaic (solar PV) installation and a 17th Edition distribution board, is answered by the NICEIC:
Is it acceptable to connect/feed in a 3.6kW solar PV system to a detached garage's 17th Edition distribution board?
Alternatively, would a separate cable need to run back to the metering point? If this is OK, would it then be acceptable to do the same thing if the garage was fed from a distribution board at the metering point?
Answer: Section 712 of BS 7671:2008 provides the particular requirements that apply to the electrical installations of solar PV power supply systems in which Fig 712.1 on page 202 provides a general schematic for a one-array PV installation. We would suggest that you carefully study this section in addition to Regulation 551.7.2, which provides the requirements where an additional source of supply is installed in parallel to another source.
It is also essential that the designer of the solar PV installation considers any effect that the PV system may have on the electrical installation - for example, to ensure that upstream devices such as RCDs are not corrupted because of fault currents feeding into the installation via the inverter. To do this an installer will need to consider specific guidance for particular products of a system offered by the manufacturer.
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