What's put the brakes on plug-in solar in Ireland?

"Broadly speaking, responses to the optional provision to promote plug-in mini solar systems were negative," said Minister for Energy Darragh O'Brien, a Fianna Fáil TD, in the Dáil in February.

He was talking about feedback received by the department 18 months earlier, during a consultation on a package of European Union-suggested measures aimed at dampening high energy prices for homes and businesses.

One measure had been to encourage plug-in solar.

Also known as balcony solar, these are handy, off-the-shelf solar panels which in some other countries, such as Germany, can already be bought in supermarkets and shops, carried home, and just plugged into a wall socket, generating and feeding in electricity the home can then use.

At the moment, these kits are not really available, or encouraged, in Ireland.

Earlier this month, the Department of Energy published the 20 submissions it got during that consultation.

Five bodies had weighed in on plug-in solar. All five were sceptical, or against. Mostly, these submissions pointed to broad safety concerns.

But four of those five submissions did also come from utilities, or organisations representing bodies which could see their bottom lines dented by scaled-up plug-in solar.

The Electricity Association of Ireland (EAI) – the industry body representing electricity generators, network operators, and energy suppliers on the island of Ireland – said it was against.

As did, individually, some of the EAI's members – Energia, Bord Gáis, and Electric Ireland, which is the retail arm of ESB.

ESB Networks – another member of EAI – also weighed in, asking for more consultation with the department on it.

Ossian Smyth, the Green Party's spokesperson on climate and energy, said the fact that Germany now has more than a million households registered with plug-in solar – and given the UK government is moving fast now on it too – shows that safety concerns are easily addressable.

"I don't think the Germans are known as the most reckless people in the world," he said.

And, indeed, there has been more movement recently to enable plug-in solar in Ireland. In May, O'Brien asked ESB Networks to accelerate any changes needed to enable plug-in solar to be safely rolled out in Ireland.

A spokesperson for ESB Networks said that it is working on this. It has reviewed options to speed the roll-out of plug-in solar, and looked at how other countries' are doing it, they said.

They have identified changes to standards and procedures to help remove barriers to adoption for households, without compromising network integrity and performance, they said. "ESB Networks estimates that these changes will take up to 12 months to implement."

Safety concerns

In his May letter to Nicholas Tarrant, the managing director of ESB Networks, O'Brien pointed to progress in smoothing the way for plug-in solar in the UK.

"Their move toward simplifying the connection process for small-scale plug-and-play devices suggests that a safe, standardized framework is achievable without compromising grid integrity," he wrote.

Making sure any plug-in solar rollout in the UK – which has a similar electricity system to Ireland – is safe, is a bit more complicated than it was in Germany, said Mark Coles, head of technical regulations at the UK's Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

One reason is down to what are known as "residual current devices" (RCDs). RCDs are trip switches, basically, which cut off electricity if they detect a leak of current, he said.

Germany banned alternating current (AC)-type RCDs in the mid-1980s, he said. While the UK and Ireland haven't.

These AC-type RCDs can be blinded by direct current (DC) flowing into a circuit. So, that includes from the current that flows into the wires from plug-in solar.

If blinded, they don't trip when they should, he said, risking electric shocks or fires.

Germany requires RCDs rated for bidirectional devices – for electricity flowing into and out of the wiring, he said, and has rules that any electrical installers need to consider whether other input sources need to be taken into account.

"Germany were steps ahead of us," says Coles.

That's why in the UK, where many homes may have old wiring, the IET's position is to encourage people to get that checked before they plug in any solar panels to the sockets, he said. "Get your installation checked, to make sure it's suitable for the installation of power coming in."

Part of the appeal of plug-in solar in Ireland has been that it can reach households who have missed out on the renewable energy wave, including renters who otherwise rely on green landlords to see it as within their interests to upgrade the energy sources in their homes.

Coles says he is conscious that any need for prior checks does mean that if there are issues, it costs to fix them, and the concept of quick access is undermined.

But he has been in meetings where fire brigades have said the last thing they want is to send fire fighters into buildings to deal with problems that should have been foreseen, he said. "It's got to be right."

Another big issue is the need for product standards, said Coles, so that the kits that are sold behave in a uniform way. The guidance for consumers has to be clear, too.

Duncan Mathews, a power-market modeller at MaREI, the research centre at University College Cork, said similar. "In the absence of precise definitions and standards it is necessary to consider unsafe practices that may arise."

Imagine somebody picks up a plug-in solar kit, hot tub and a bunch of extension cords in the middle aisle, he said. "In the absence of guiding procedures, are you 100% sure it is safe to run the extension cords into the garden and plug in the hot-tub and solar multiple extensions away from the house with the cables criss-crossing across the lawn?"

Coles puts forward another scenario. Imagine somebody goes down to a supermarket, and buys plug-in solar and takes it home and plugs it into an extension lead. "And then, you buy more because you're saving money – and you come home and plug them into an extension lead."

If supply is lost to the building, a wired-in solar panel will see the loss of supply shut down. But multiple plug-in solar panels may not, as they see the supply from their friends, he said. "And the question is how long does that plug sit live for?"

The UK wants to get around this, by saying that you should only have one plug-in solar unit per home for safety, he said. But some people are going to ignore that of course, he said, and shared houses are vulnerable to that.

Mathews, the power-market modeller, says that it is important also to think about oversight of the overall system into the future too.

"The electricity network is a large, interconnected machine shared by everyone. It is in all of our interests that it be managed an operated to high standards," he said.

Its easier for network operators such as ESB Networks to do this if they know what generators are out there and feeding in, he said, including small ones such as plug-in solar.

"That way, the network operators can better understand, for example, how much electricity demand is expected in a given area in summer versus winter and how is that evolving. From there, they can plan the network's needs," said Mathews.

Surmountable problems

Smyth, the Green Party spokesperson on climate and energy, said he was frustrated with the response from the minister, O'Brien, in February, which said that 18 months after the public consultation, more consideration was required.

"They moved so fast on subsidising diesel and petrol," Smyth said, referring to the government's response to the fuel-price protests in April.

Here's a measure that could take the edge off bills for people who live in apartments, and renters, who usually miss out on renewable-energy schemes, Smyth said. "It's very hard to have any renewable energy if you're a tenant or living in a flat."

Coles, at IET, says that in the UK, his organisation isn't trying to stop the government there in its pursuit of clean and safe renewable energy. "We're just flagging the concerns as we see them."

Then, policymakers can work through the list, Coles said, and address what arises.

Indeed, said Mathews, at UCC. "I believe these problems are entirely surmountable and ultimately should not prevent the enablement of plug-in solar in Ireland – but they should be given rigorous consideration."

He pointed to the findings of a recent independent report looking at the safety and compatability of plug-in solar in the UK.

It found that "plug-in PV [photovoltaic solar] systems can demonstrate broadly safe and technically coherent behaviour", he said.

But it also highlighted the need for well-defined equipment standards, a registration/notification process to inform the network operator of the intention to install plug-in solar, and "customer guidance for safe electrical operation and domestic installation".

"I strongly echo the report's findings and recommendations, particularly that consumer facing information should form part of the control framework," he said.

Maybe, presenting a registration certificate could be a condition of sale, he said. "This could ensure that systems are registered and consumers have been presented with guiding information about safe installation."

Moving ahead?

A spokesperson for Bord Gáis Energy, one of the utilities that had objected to plug-in solar during the consultation 18 months back, set out a different position now in response to a press query.

"Bord Gáis Energy supports the introduction of plug-in solar in Ireland as a practical, low-cost way for more households to generate their own electricity and reduce bills. It has the potential to widen access to solar energy, particularly for renters and those living in apartments," said the spokesperson last week.

"We recognise that these systems are already being deployed in other European markets," he said. "The priority now is to ensure Ireland has the right framework in place so they can be introduced safely and at scale."

A spokesperson for Energia, though, said its position is the same as at the time of the consultation: "We believe that plug-in solar may not be appropriate due to safety concerns."

A spokesperson for ESB Networks said that it is engaging with the Energy Networks Association (ENA) in the UK, to align approaches across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

It supports the roll-out, they said, under certain conditions: that public safety is assured, network integrity is protected, devices sold and used are up to standard – and that the "distribution system operator" has sight of who has it connected, with a simple registration process in place.

Changes to ESB Network's standards and procedures are under its remit.

But setting how plug-in solar and battery devices have to be up to safety standards and meet a wiring-safety framework, that's not ESB Network's remit, said the spokesperson.

"ESB Networks has therefore convened a cross-industry group, including representatives from the CRU [Commission for the Regulation of Utilities], NSAI [National Standards Authority of Ireland] and other relevant bodies, with a view to establishing a shared pathway to accelerate the deployment of plug-in solar," they said. 

"The first meeting of this group took place on 9 June, and a follow-on meeting has been scheduled," they said.

Smyth, the Green Party spokesperson on climate and energy, says he thinks that one reason it has taken so long to get to this stage is that large institutions can be quite conservative. "They can be institutionally cautious."

But it shouldn't take much to encourage a plug-in solar boom, he said – just changes to a guidebook. "It's an administrative change."