glock339

I've received a copy of the inspection report (attached), at first I thought they'd completely forgotten about moving the lines but then I noticed they had written across the top "pass to Owen NPG with regards to poss to change supply route" so I'm guessing that means someone called Owen at NPG may or may not be considering it now 🤷‍♂️. The report still seems to be based around safe working height rather than the safe distance for a fixed solar panel even though I have constantly laboured the point throughout the entire process that I am not asking about safe working distances. For good measure they also sent me a generic HSE PDF about safe working distances from power lines 🙄.

Yeh they're just domestic 230v concentric double insulated cables.

Luckily I have a pretty good area for them facing south with little to no shading etc so it should be fairly straight forward fingers crossed (famous last words).

The shrouding is already up, I had it put on when I rebuilt the roof a while back & just left it up for the solar instal. As I mentioned earlier in the thread I strongly suspect the director of solar company just didn't want to fit the remaining panels & used the DNO as an excuse, he even told me the minimum distance was 2.5 metres (a figure I've not heard anywhere else) to make sure most of the roof would be out of bounds so no point fitting just 2 or 3 panels. He'd lost money on my instal due to fitting panels to a slate roof that they'd not properly accounted for in my quote so I can't see them installing anything unless I got something in writing which doesn't look likely. It also looks like getting the lines moved will be a very long process & I've had to pay up for the job now (minus the 10 panels) so I doubt they'll be doing the job if I do decide to put the panels on the roof in question. To be honest I'm thinking it might just be cheaper & easier to go with my original idea of putting up 6 to 8 myself on a pergola & shed then getting someone qualified to connect everything up etc.

Great, I'll do that. Thanks

That'd be great if you could, my DNO is Northern Power Grid. I like the email idea! 😁

Honestly I felt like an interviewer trying to get a straight answer out of a politician, it just wasn't happening 😅 Yeh after he told me the works were free & saw how pleased I was he then brought me back down to earth by saying "BUT there will be a canny waiting time." I think that's possibly why he was saying in not so manny words that he'd just put the panels up now while the scaffold etc is up then get the cables moved. However unless he actually puts something in writing in his report (I should be getting a copy emailed to me) it seems a bit dicey putting them up because some bloke said it'll probably be ok gov 🤔

Yeh I when he was going through the all various works he was going to recommend be carried out in his report I was thinking to myself if this is all chargeable it's going to be silly money & won't make financial sense, so I sheepishly asked if it was & I was blown away when he said it was all buckshee!

So I've just had the NPG inspector guy out & got some mixed info from him. He said ideally there should be 1 metre clearance for my type of cables but also said it doesn't really matter & if it was him he'd just put the panels up anyway 😳 I should say that he also said that he was going to do a survey recommending my cables are moved & brought into the houses underground so I'm not sure if that had something to do with him saying I could just crack on with putting panels up on that roof. I really did try to push him on what exactly is or isn't allowed in my case but he just seemed to change the goal posts between saying ideally a 1 metre minimum & then saying it didn't really matter if I just put them up as is 🤔 Ah well it looks like it's still clear as mud. I may go ahead with them moving the cables though as he said there isn't a charge, which I was a bit surprised at.

Yeh believe me I use the most efficiently powered aquarium equipment possible but will still be pulling around 4kw per hour during the 8 hour lighting periods & around 1.5kw outside of the lighting period. I actually used to cast resin objects as a full time business in the past, the cost of resins & silicones plus ancillary gear is ridiculous, it takes much more time if you take into account all the different processes involved which most people don't think about, the amount of mess & fumes it creates is absolutely horrific & ideally requires dedicated a workshop space for it. Casting also has a lot of limitations in terms of shapes you can do (undercuts etc) plus resin is not safe for corals, 3D printing in PETG is reef safe & the way to go.

I grow corals, which I'm expanding by around 50% next year plus I'll be 3D printing pretty much 24/7.

😅 if only it were that easy, next year my usage will be increasing significantly so I definitely need a plan for replacing the missing panels.

Yeh I decided to just go ahead with the inspection on Monday then at least I know one way or the other if I ever do decide to put panels on that roof. To be honest I was always in 2 minds about installing them on that particular roof side anyway as a couple of years ago I slated it myself & put a lot of extra time in doing patterns in the slates etc to make it look nice, plus they cost an arm & a leg so seems a shame to cover them with panels. However I am a heavy electricity user unfortunately so ideally I would like to take advantage of at least some of the extra capacity I have just sat there in the unused string.

I'd like to have thought the installers would have thought of that & I know in their proposal it said there was no shadowing to any of the roofs for whatever thats worth. There's only 2 thin-ish (maybe 20mm to 30mm diameter each???) lines that fly over the roof diagonally then connect to a pole mounted to the side of the house so I don't know if that'd be enough to cause significant shadowing?

I did actually email them about the power line before work started & I was told to just go ahead with the job & they'd ask NPG about it, then if they had to reduce the string by 1 or 2 panels they'd just take the panels off the bill. However they then said NPG stated they required 2.5 meters clearance from cables so wasn't any point putting up the 1 or 2 panels that were that far away. I won't bore you with the full long story but basically I think the instal company hadn't properly accounted in my quote for the fact 2 of my roof sides are slate & the director basically admitted to me that my job had been a loss for the company financially (proposal said 3 days work but guys were back & forth for 3 weeks). A few other issues such as they wanted to do a time saving bolt through system on the slate roofs, which I flat out refused. They started using builders band as slate hooks so I stopped things & got them to fit the Genius roof system with all the proper flashings & hooks etc. (I spent a LOT of time & money building & slating that roof with my own 2 hands!) This is pure speculation but when there was only the last 10 panels to fit I went on holiday for 2 weeks so all work stopped while I was away. I actually said to my wife on the plane home that I had a feeling they'll probably just say NPG won't let them fit the panels even if they can, in order to cut their losses. Maybe they did, or maybe I'm just cynical. I have spoke with a guy on a Facebook Solar group who claims to be the lead designer for the NPG & he says there should be no clearance needed for concentric double insulated cables (which mine apparently are). I have also booked I an inspector from NPG to come out & settle the matter as they can't do it over the phone but to be honest I'm a bit tired of the whole thing now so I might just cancel the visit & pay for the instal as is (with reduced price obviously) because this has consumed so much of my time over the last month or so as well as being stressful.

Yes I paid the DNO for approval of a 15.575kW system so hoping this still stands, might there be a time limit etc on this approval? Yes they installed DC isolators for each of the 4 string & the unused string isolator is turned OFF.

I've just had what was supposed to be a 35 panel 15kw system installed, however 10 panels were not installed due to a power line being close to one side of a roof. So I have everything already set up for a system with 10 panels more than what I actually have, the cables that were meant to go to the omitted 10 panel string are connected to the inverter & rolled up in the loft ready to go. Next year I will be completely re-doing the garden (which is currently a building site) so was wondering if I build a shed or pergoda etc to take maybe 6 to 8 panels (exact same models as existing obviously) would I be able to do most/all of the work myself or is there still a lot of red tape/certs etc involved in what seems like a fairly simple job? Or are there any other things I should be aware of as well? Cheers.

The national grid guy I've been speaking to on facebook reckons said "effectively insulated means a single layer of insulation I.e. ABC conductor (the main)" whereas mine is concentric double insulated so should not need any clearance. Obviously talking to someone on facebook doesn't really help my situation & I really needed to talk to someone qualified from NPG before my solar installers pack up & leave site tomorrow but there is absolutely zero chance of that. I'm fully expecting a very generic email from them within the next 28 working days that doesn't address my question as the confirmation email I got from them yesterday to tell me they'd eventually get back to me stated my question was regarding safe working distances 😑

Thats some good info, much better than anything I've been able to find anyway. It seems a bit strange to me they may count solar as "normally accessible objects", especially as the installers won't do any work up there without shrouding fitted.

I’ve had solar fitted to 3 sides small roofs & was supposed to be getting another 10 panels fitted to a 4th roof that has overhead cables above it, which enter my loft & connect to my meter. The job has taken much longer than anticipated by the installation company, everything was straight forward on the 2 tiled roof sides but the 1st slate roof side took several days for just 8 panels & I don't think they properly accounted for this in their quote from what they told me. Work then halted for 2 weeks while I went on holiday & on the way home I actually said to my wife that I had a feeling they might just tell us that they can't fit panels on the last slate roof due to the overhead cables (which they’d mentioned before the holiday) in order to cut their losses & not have to pay the 2 sub contracted installers for another 4 or so days just to fit 10 panels (both installers being on £250 each per day I found out). Lo & behold when we spoke to the director later on he told us NPG had told him there needs to be 2.5 meters clearance so no point in trying to fit anything to that roof & he also said something else that didn't quite make sense to me. I have spoke to someone on a facebook Solar group claiming to be lead system design and power quality engineer at NGED who said there is no clearance needed for my cables which he assumed from my photos were: 95 2c ABC to 6 x 16mm Copper concentric with an open point to an underground circuit. To me this means either my installers are not being truthful, or they have been given the wrong info by NPG. I have just rang NPG connections department & basically I had to leave a message with a call handler who told me someone with authority would email me in 5 to 28 working days so I have absolutely no way of knowing as simply talking to someone who knows things seems to be to much to ask these days. Anyone familiar with clearance regs etc? Cheers.

Yes I've just had an email from the company checking if I will be OK with Hallhooks so I gave them the go ahead & the current installers who are absolutely lovely lads but are sparkys not roofers have said they think the company is arranging for actual roofers to come & fit to the slate roof so fingers crossed things may work out. 🤞

Currently having solar fitted, company has done a satisfactory job on my tile roof but we have hit problems with my slate roof. Originally for the slate roof a bolt through system was suggested, which I refused. They then agreed instead to go with hooks (stood off & no weight transferred to slates) with a proper flashings & I made it clear to the installers that I wanted any slates that are replaced & can't be nailed to be secured with proper mechanical fixings. I thought proper mechanical fixings would be something like Hallhooks but unfortunately they thought using galvanised builders band bent over is acceptable. I've refused the banding & told them I require something actually designed for the job, am I being unreasonable?

Those 20/20s do seem to be a good price for clay, I have a Sandtoft sample & the quality seems to be very good. That was my concern, especially if I went with something that isn't easily available at the local roofing merchants although I think will just go with something that is.

🥳 ah a constructive answer to my question, thank you sir! Not a bad shout & out of interest do you know if your tiles were all mechanically fixed & if so was it nails or hooks or both etc?

Yes all sorted thanks. Well I guess everyone with solar will have the same problem there so not much I can do about that. That's all great but I've spent over a month getting in quotes/ having site visits & I've explained what I have sitting on my desk.