solar pv - no spare way

[dp1000]

Hi,
I recently took the City & Guilds PV course. I haven't done an install yet but i've been to take a look at some possible jobs. At one of the jobs i noticed there was no spare way in the main consumer unit. There was however a smaller 2 way consumer unit spurred off the supply tails via a henley block. This smaller unit supplied an electric shower and had one spare way. If i used this spare way for the PV system am I correct in assuming that the only item of equipment that will benefit from the electriciity generated will be the shower and not the circuits fed from the main consumer unit?
Thanks.

 

[blackiel]

You would only be using that way for circuit protection,if that was the right way of doing things,it cant backfeed onto the shower circuit.... the PV array has to have its own board and a splitter,inverter,etc,etc....Where did you do the course and how long was it for??

 

[chris gray]

You would only be using that way for circuit protection,if that was the right way of doing things,it cant backfeed onto the shower circuit.... the PV array has to have its own board and a splitter,inverter,etc,etc....Where did you do the course and how long was it for??

if you get this months pe from eddys theres a good story in there about a company doing it, gives you info on where to get qualified, not cheap at all tho.

 

[jules27]

Hello there, I am interested in pv and was wondering where exactly this article was (pe ? eddys ? ) Ive seen two courses one is the c and g( run in Centre for alternative technolgy amongst others ) and the other is a niceic approved course (run by PPL) . nice to see this new forum.Sorry didnt mean to hijack the thread.
cheers

 

[chris gray]

professional electricians, i know they give them out at eddys the wholesalers
give me 2 mins and ill get the mag out my van

The Microgeneration Certification Scheme MCS

hope its of some use mate

 

[martysparky]

Any scope on the cost of training etc?

 

[Andyfm]

I think NAPIT are doing microgeneration courses or are planning to.

 

[jules27]

The course at cat i think is about £900 and the one with ppl works out about £700 i think , interested to find out about about the napit one though. Prob quite a few people offering training i reckon at the moment . I imagine the C and G one at CAT is the one to go for

 

[Pete@HGE]

Hi

The City and Guild course is numbered 2372. Google this to find a course near you, as someone said, I think all the various providers are thinking of doing it. Haven't done it myself yet but I am interested. It seems to be about the £800 mark and will last 5 days.

It's my understanding from the Microgeneration Certificate Scheme - The Microgeneration Certification Scheme MCS that if the customer wants to take advantage of the feed-in tariff (obviously) they must use a product and installer who is accredited under MCS.

Accreditation is similar to the arrangements under Part P so the NIC, NAPIT and Elecsa all do this. The City and Guilds course is the necessary qualification to attain accreditation together with site visit / assessment, but the NIC course is good enough for the NIC and presumably any NAPIT course will be good enough for NAPIT. Elecsa don't do a course themselves letting City and Guilds do what they do best !

Pete

 

[Markc]

Hi,
I recently took the City & Guilds PV course. I haven't done an install yet but i've been to take a look at some possible jobs. At one of the jobs i noticed there was no spare way in the main consumer unit. There was however a smaller 2 way consumer unit spurred off the supply tails via a henley block. This smaller unit supplied an electric shower and had one spare way. If i used this spare way for the PV system am I correct in assuming that the only item of equipment that will benefit from the electriciity generated will be the shower and not the circuits fed from the main consumer unit?
Thanks.

No the entire system will benifit not just the shower. It will be going through a generation meter prior to going into the spareway via MCB.

 

[Markc]

the PV array has to have its own board and a splitter,inverter,etc,etc....Where did you do the course and how long was it for??

Sorry not strictly true. The array does not have to go into its own board. The inverter (If grid connected) can go back to any spare way on a consumer unit and be marked up accordingly. As for back feeding the MCB is protecting the inverter not offering protection INTO the existing system and so acts just the same as any protection device on any circuit. The protection INTO the property is offered by the Inverter and if grid power is lost the inverter automatically shuts down the PV system.

 

[Mark.W]

You would only be using that way for circuit protection,if that was the right way of doing things,it cant backfeed onto the shower circuit.... the PV array has to have its own board and a splitter,inverter,etc,etc....Where did you do the course and how long was it for??

Since when does the PV Array have to have it's own board!

 

[Mark.W]

If anyone is interested in the PV course, have a look at ecoskies! I recently did mine through them and they were quite good.

Cheers!

 

[blackiel]

Sorry not strictly true. The array does not have to go into its own board. The inverter (If grid connected) can go back to any spare way on a consumer unit and be marked up accordingly. As for back feeding the MCB is protecting the inverter not offering protection INTO the existing system and so acts just the same as any protection device on any circuit. The protection INTO the property is offered by the Inverter and if grid power is lost the inverter automatically shuts down the PV system.[/QUOTe

Youre right Mark,thanks for putting me right,what i meant to say,was that i would put it on a separate board ,to avoid any grief later in the event of a fault,as then you can eliminate that particular circuit/install from the equation..

Think ive read the original question wrong....if hes got two fuseways in the board and uses the spare to protect the inverter,is he assuming that the shower will be fed off this also??

Be Lucky

 

[blackiel]

Since when does the PV Array have to have it's own board!

...