Solar Victoria Add More Rules For PV, Battery & Heat Pump Installations

Solar Victoria has published the 2023-2024 Notice To Market, including five new mandatory requirements and rather more recommendations.

The notice lays out the rules retailers have to follow so their customers can take advantage of Victoria’s rebates for solar PV, household battery, and heat pump hot water systems.

The requirements, set out below, come into force on 1 July 2023, aside from a couple of exceptions.

Requirement: Timers for Hot Water Heat Pumps

Solar Victoria wants to maximise self-consumption of solar power, a sensible aim given the problems the local grid suffers during excess production. So, as of 1 March 2024, it’s mandating timers for heat pump hot water systems.

The integrated timer has to let the unit “run between a specified time window, or is connected to a solar PV system and runs during periods of solar generation”.

The system should be able to override the timer if needed, has to support defrost cycles, and has to meet other health requirements for water heaters.

SV notes that since heat pumps work best at warmer temperatures, timers make sense – and they would reduce the risk that heat pumps running in colder ambient temperatures would fail.

Requirement: Retailers Subject to the New Energy Tech Consumer Code

In February, the Clean Energy Council replaced its troubled Approved Solar Retailer Code of Conduct with the New Energy Tech Consumer Code (NETCC).

Solar Victoria has revised the Notice to reflect the change: PV and battery retailers will have to sign with the NETCC, and maintain the status of NET Approved Seller.

Requirement: Take Down The Numbers

PV, battery and hot water retailers are now required to record product serial numbers, along with other product data. As well as helping OEMs in the event of a product recall, Solar Victoria said tracking products will help with end-of-life management.

We’ve seen a number of product recalls in the last few years: the SolarImmersion PV diverter in 2020, the Growatt inverter recall in 2021, and of course the ongoing LG battery recall.

Requirement: Warranties

All retailers will also have to offer a minimum five-year whole-of-system warranty, to improve consumer protection.

Inverters, PV modules, batteries and smart controllers, and heat pump hot water systems will have to be offered with a five-year whole-of-product warranty.

Recommendations

PV vendors should offer a performance warranty – 90% production after 10 years, and 80% after 25 years.

Heat pump hot water retailers have new recommendations covering tank size guides: 150-225 litres for one or two occupants; 225-300 litres for two to four occupants; and over 300 litres if there are four or more occupants.

There’s apparently a concern that heat pump hot water could be installed in locations colder than their specification allows. To deal with that, Solar Victoria recommends that retailers look up climate data at the Bureau of Meteorology, and keep the minimum operating temperature of the heat pump they sell higher than the likely minima at the customer’s location.

Solar Victoria also wants all retailers to recommend customers use the “solar saver” tool on the Victorian Energy Compare website.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/solar-victoria-2023-rules/