The significant increased uptake over the last several years of residential Photo-Voltaic (PV) panels and inverter systems, with the capability of exporting surplus electricity into Line Company networks in New Zealand, has been the main driver for the development of Guideline for the Connection of Small-Scale Inverter Based Distributed Generation.
The EEA has commissioned the production of this Guide to promote a consistent approach to managing the connection of PV-Inverter systems in a safe, efficient and equitable manner throughout NZ which will enable customers to invest in confidence without creating overloading, power quality and safety issues for local networks.
The purpose of this Guideline is to provide assistance to Electricity Distribution Businesses (EDBs) for managing the integration of small-scale, inverter based Distributed Generation (DG) into Low-voltage (LV) distribution networks in New Zealand. This document outlines a structured assessment process for DG applications and specifies the minimum technical requirements that must be met in the design and installation of Inverter Energy Systems (IES) to ensure safe and reliable operation of the LV distribution networks.
This draft has been released to enable consultation with our members before a final version of the guide is published. The purpose of this draft is to allow the industry to work with the guide, to gain an understanding of its usage and correspond over whatever issues arise.
A half day workshop on the Guide is being held on the morning of the 22nd of June in Wellington as part of the Asset Management Forum ahead of the EEA Conference. We would encourage those intending to use the guide to attend to get up to speed on the guide, ask questions directly to the researchers and guide creators, and provide feedback to the EEA on how they can improve the guide and provide support to the industry on this issue. We encourage members to provide feedback prior to this date so it may be addressed during the forum.
Registration for the forum can be found here.
Consultation
The consultation on this draft will run until the 30th of July to allow for feedback submissions after the pre-conference workshop. A consultation draft of the guide is available for download here.
Please send all to ad,[email protected] by the 30th of July 2016.