Pursuant to Regulation 87 of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010 ("the Regulations"), I, Mark Stephen Wogan, Operations Manager, Energy Safety, give the following notice.
N o t i c e
1. Short title and commencement-(1) This notice is the Electricity Regulations (Prohibited Electrical Fittings - Inverters) Notice 2012.
(2) This prohibition is to take effect on and from the day following the date of its publication in the New Zealand Gazette.
2. Prohibited fittings-The manufacture, importation, sale (including an offer to sell), and use (including installation) of the class of electrical fittings, being inverters as prescribed in this notice, is prohibited.
3. Description-(1) The class of fittings to which the notice applies ("the prohibited fittings") are inverters, being a type of electrical device that converts direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC), that are fitted with a lead and plug to allow electricity to be supplied into an electrical installation through a socket outlet of that installation.
(2) The prohibited fittings include but are not limited to the type of inverter known as the "Grid Tie Inverter".
4. Details of prohibited fittings-The prohibited fittings are, or may be, electrically unsafe in that they enable an alternative power generation system, like solar or wind power, to be connected to an electrical installation downstream
of the circuit protective devices in that installation which provide protection against the overloading of cables or a person suffering serious harm.
5. Reasons for prohibition-The prohibited fittings are, or may be, electrically unsafe, as defined in Regulation 5 of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010, in that:
- the use of the prohibited fittings poses a significant risk that property may suffer serious damage as a result of fire arising from a current being able to flow through a conductor that exceeds the rating of that conductor; and
- the installation of the prohibited fittings downstream from a residual current device (RCD) and/or a circuit protection system may compromise the operation of these protection devices resulting in significant risk that a person may suffer serious harm.
Dated at Wellington this 12th day of January 2012.
MARK STEPHEN WOGAN, Operations Manager, Energy Safety, Ministry of Economic Development.
Explanatory Note
This note is not part of the notice, but is intended to indicate its general effect.
This notice prescribes that, pursuant to Regulation 87 of
the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010, the manufacture, importation, sale (including an offer to sell), and use (including installation) of any inverter fitted with a lead and plug to allow electricity to be supplied into an electrical installation through a socket outlet of that installation. This notice comes into effect on the day following its notification in the New Zealand Gazette.