The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council, QCC has released new safety standards for solar power systems. According to the UAE press agency WAM, the Small-Scale Solar PV Systems Conformity Assessment Scheme is expected to boost development of distributed generation under net metering and, at the same time, to ensure quality, safety and sustainability performance of PV installations.
The QCC said the new standards will help installers and manufacturers of PV products comply with the Regulatory & Supervision Bureau’s Electricity Wiring Regulations and with the Small-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Energy-Netting Regulation, which is the net metering scheme that the city government introduced in January 2017.
The executive director of conformity scheme services at QCC, Abdullah Hassan Al Muaini, said that the new scheme is responding to the industry’s need by identifying the key specifications of products, aligning international testing and control standards, and connecting the market’s stakeholders with the authorities’ requirements.
When Abu Dhabi’s government issued the net metering scheme it said that a knowledge scheme had to be developed and incorporated as an additional requirement for qualification and certification of PV integrators within the first year of the date of the regulations.
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The net metering scheme is open to solar power generators not exceeding 5 MW in size that are connected to the low voltage distribution network.
The owner of a PV system must obtain the necessary municipal permits prior to grid-connection of the small-scale solar PV installation. Furthermore, all projects must be approved by the Abu Dhabi’s Regulation & Supervision Bureau.
Surplus electricity generated from the small-scale PV systems under the scheme is delivered to the local grid. Surplus power is carried forward indefinitely from one billing cycle to the next, without any limitation of time or quantity and shall only be offset against future electricity consumption under a service point. The owner of a solar installation under net metering is not entitled to any monetary compensation.
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