“We, as a community, need to make sure that we are designing, recommending and installing the safest systems”, said Nick Blampied, head of commercial at SolarEdge Technologies UK, during a webinar hosted by Current± this morning (9 April).
In this discussion, Blampied looks at the revision of RC62 – a document intended to lay out safety guidelines for insurers involved in PV systems – and how power optimisers can ensure systems comply with the legislation.
As explained by Bamplied: “RC62 provides practical guidance to insurers and their clients on the requirements for procuring, owning, operating, and maintaining safe and efficient PV systems. This is exactly what we are all focusing on as PV installers in the market: designing, procuring, and operating safe PV systems.”
“We are a global leader in smart energy production,” Blampied said, contextualising SolarEdge’s role within the sector. “Put another way, we are a manufacturer of inverters and power optimisers and a very successful manufacturer at that point. We have shipped around 5.6 million inverters globally and probably now over 125 million power optimisers.”
SolarEdge will, therefore, play a significant role in the UK’s growing adoption of safe solar. With an increase in the number of ground mount and commercial PV systems being deployed annually, there is an estimated 18GWp now deployed across the UK.
This equates to some 50 million modules. To meet ambitious carbon reduction commitments, the UK must increase the installed capacity to around 40GWp by 2040.
“BRE (Centre for Fire Safety Engineering) conducted a study in 2017 and found that the majority of issues resulting in fire and loss came from DC isolators, DC connectors and inverters,” said Blampied, explaining the trigger for RC62’s production. “As an industry, we are all motivated, from manufacturer to installer to system owner, to reduce the likelihood of loss.”
Blampied detailed an example of such a loss and said: “There have been several high-profile fires involving PV over the last few years which has renewed interest in PV safety.”
“We embed quite a few unique technologies in our complete fleet of PV systems, from Sense Connect to Arc Fault Circuit Interruption to DC safety and Rapid Shutdown,” Blampied said, listing the protection SolarEdge makes available.
He explained how the company’s data collection helps support its services: “We have now deployed power optimisers behind every pair of panels, we have a great deal of information on how those modules perform. Thus, we can show a comprehensive, high-level overview of the system’s performance.”
“We can dive into the fine details of every single pair of panels up on the roof and understand their voltage, current, power, and energy production. All of this is particularly important in terms of PV system maintenance, as it allows us to understand how our systems are performing and mitigate risks and issues before they develop into something more serious.”
“SafeDC has the ability to shut the system down if there’s a fault,” said Blampied, speaking more specifically about certain technologies. “In as little as 30 seconds and no more than 180 seconds, you can bring a system operating at 750 volts and 20 amps down to touch-safe levels that pose no risk of electrocution.”
He continued: “In addition to reacting to the temperature rise with the Sense Connect software, we then notify the installer and the system owner that this fault has occurred through the monitoring platform. Because each optimiser is individually addressed, has its own unique QR code, and is positioned on the roof, we can pinpoint the location of that fault.”
Blampied ultimately concluded by saying that the company is “taking preventative measures here; we are not allowing an arc to develop and reacting to that arc; we are catching up before it becomes an arc and shutting the system down”.
