Plug-in solar poses 6 safety risks, say electrical industry groups - here's when to call a pro

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There's a lot of excitement recently over the potential of plug-in solar, and how cheap, self-install kits could help households save money. But industry groups in the UK have raised a number of concerns about the safety of these kits and urge consumers to proceed with caution.

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Several industry groups -- including the Electrical Contractors' Association, Electrical Safety First, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and certification bodies NICEIC and SELECT -- have issued a joint warning about the technology , with concerns focused on six areas in particular.

Before I get to the concerns, here's a quick plug-in solar primer.

Plug-in solar works by connecting solar panels to a small device called a microinverter. This takes the DC power from the solar panels and uses that to transform the electricity into AC and feed it into the household's supply via a regular household plug that's been plugged into an AC wall outlet.

At the heart of a plug-in solar setup is a microinverter.

The amount of power generated isn't going to be large, and there's no storage capability; the idea is that it will help run devices that are plugged in all the time.

The first issue that the industry groups raised was that consuming power is not the same as producing power, and that plug-in solar allows for power to flow in both directions. This could compromise Residual Current Devices (RCDs), electrical safety switches that shut off the power when an electrical leak in a circuit is detected. (In the US, RCDs are known as GFCIs, or Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters.)

The group claims that there has been one death in Australia related to this sort of failure, but notes that "this view is not shared by regulators from other Australian states".

Electrical issues can hide anywhere... like behind this wall outlet. (A loose wire caused a general overheating issue.)

Another issue is fire risk. The group warns that over half of the UK's housing is more than a century old and packed with old, damaged, or deteriorating electrical wiring that's not up to the job of carrying extra load. They warn that plug-in solar adds to the risk of localized overheating of cables, especially if multiple units are used.

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