It is now legal to buy and use plug-in solar panels in Great Britain, but safety concerns surrounding them haven鈥檛 yet been addressed by the UK government. This is according to one of the leading engineering institutions, which says the legalisation has been rushed through without creating proper legal standards and has created an increased risk to life.
With plug-in solar panels, you simply buy a kit, place it in a sunny spot and plug it into a wall socket. There鈥檚 no installation cost, no certification and no planning permission. The devices are popular in many European countries and the UK government to boost renewable energy generation and cut down on household bills.
Prior to this legalisation, , the head of technical regulations at the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), told New 女生小视频 about several potential issues. One surrounded residual current devices (RCDs), the safety devices found in fuse boxes that sense when current is leaking to ground 鈥� a sign of electrocution or a short circuit 鈥� and almost instantaneously cut power. Most RCDs used in the UK aren鈥檛 suitable for current flowing聽in both directions and so could malfunction if used with plug-in solar panels.
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Another of the IET鈥檚 concerns is what happens if there are multiple kits in use in an area and a power cut occurs. In theory, the plug-in kits should also shut down in order to prevent 鈥渋slanding鈥�, when one home鈥檚 power stays live. But if they are still generating power, then they could deceive each other into thinking the grid is live and keep running. The problem聽then is that power can jump past the fuse box and electrocute maintenance workers in the area fixing the outage.聽
The IET made these concerns clear to the UK government both before and during the consultation by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) that . But Coles says the issues weren鈥檛 addressed and now present a risk.
鈥淚t was a done deal before it went out, I鈥檓 sure,鈥� says Coles. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been rushed. There needed to be time to develop a proper standard for these things, because we feel under certain circumstances that there鈥檚 an increased risk to life.鈥�
Coles says the risks emerge only when there鈥檚 a perfect storm of problems, but that this will inevitably lead to an injury or a death over time if plug-in solar panels are widely adopted.
Extensive scientific studies have been carried out to determine how quickly damage is done within the human body from electric shock. Based on that research, UK RCDs are required to trip and cut off current within 40 milliseconds. But there are no similar standards for plug-in solar panels, which Coles suggests could 鈥� if things go wrong, and in very limited circumstances 鈥� take longer to shut down.
鈥淵ou could be exposed to the electric current for longer than you should have been,鈥� says Coles. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e in the danger zone.鈥�
The IET鈥檚 advice is to get an electrical inspection prior to committing to plug-in solar in order to minimise risk.
A DESNZ spokesperson told New 女生小视频 that 鈥渨e have funded an independent contractor to fully test the electrical safety of plug-in solar devices on UK electrical house wiring practice, which found these products to be safe鈥�.
The department added that it had looked at testing with older household electrical safety devices and found no evidence that their ability to provide protection was affected when used with the type of plug-in solar systems sold in Europe.
Coles agrees that tests were carried out, but says that they focused on plug-in solar kits sourced outside the UK, because none was legal here at the time, and with brand new RCDs. That has two problems: legal RCDs in the real world can be much older, and of older design, and there was no clear definition or regulation for plug-in panels that were tested, meaning that ones now for sale may act differently.
鈥淭hey spent this money on getting these units tested, but these units were non-standard units,鈥� says Coles. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 not like I鈥檓 testing something that鈥檚 been made to a product standard and I鈥檓 seeing how it conforms to this product standard. So I don鈥檛 see the point of spending the money. From our point of view, it鈥檚 being rushed.鈥�
