Engineering Recommendation G83/1

[Keith_F]

Hi

We are a fully approved NICEIC electrical contractor as well as being an NICEIC approved domestic installer, who have been asked by one of our customers if we can carry out the final connections and issue certification (Domestic Electrical Installation Certificate and G83/1 certificate) for solar pv installations in domestic premises for them. They are an MCS accredited company doing heat pump and solar pv installations but their own electrician is leaving and rather than employing another electrician themselves they are asking us if we can do this for them. They are installing all of the panels and inverters etc... themselves.

Do we, as an NICEIC approved contractor, need to be MCS accredited to do these final connections into the consumer unit and issue certification, or does our NICEIC approval allow us to do this? I know there would be no problem for us issuing the Domestic Installation Certificate for the new circuit from the consumer unit to the inverter as this is normal, but it's the G83/1 (Appendix 2 Certificate) I'm not sure about.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Keith

 

[TedM]

You don't need to be MCS accredited to issue a G83, you just need to be competent. (Some DNOs may have other ideas, but there is nothing required.)

As you are signing that the system, as installed, complies with G83 then you should only do that if you know exactly what that entails and can confirm that the system is compliant.

But the MCS certificate can only be issued by an accredited MCS installer.

 

[Graeme Harrold]

In essance you become one of their sub-contractors, and as such should provide Solar PV training for you to ensure they continue to meet the MCS guidelines. The will hold and manage the MCS portion, and you feed them information and installation certificates.

 

[Keith_F]

Thanks for your replies, they are much appreciated.

We actually have two electricians who we put through the NICEIC Solar PV course last year so they are qualified, and we are in the process of registering to be MCS accredited ourselves, but at least I can now tell our customer that we can do what they are wanting us to do. I'm also hoping that by working alongside an MCS accredited installer, this will help us to gain the knowledge and understanding of what is required to gain MCS accreditation ourselves.