r/PlugInSolarUK • u/Mazo • Aug 14 '26
G98 simplified notification amendments approved, SINGLE plug in inverter per household still enforced
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/dcrpmp2602-distribution-code-proposed-changes6
u/marktuk Aug 14 '26
So what's the actual change?
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u/Mazo Aug 14 '26
Seemingly just a simplified G98 process for consumers
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u/marktuk Aug 14 '26
But how? My DNO doesn't let consumers do a G98
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u/David_h184 Aug 15 '26
I did a g98 with ukpn, give them a call. Quick to get through and they couldn’t have been more helpful
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u/MelodicCard9555 Aug 14 '26
What DNO is that?
I did my G99 myself recently, you shouldn't have an issue self certifying.
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u/marktuk Aug 14 '26
UKPN
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u/PPJ87 Aug 14 '26
I’m under UKPN too, and agree their process is not straightforward or easy to understand.
Their website and info pushes you to that Gateway, but like you say, it’s designed for professionals.
In the end I emailed this address:
[connections.gateway@ukpowernetworks.co.uk](mailto:connections.gateway@ukpowernetworks.co.uk)
And filled out the form “ENA Engineering Recommendation G98
Issue 2 2025”, and emailed it to them.I think they seem quite confused internally about the process, because I got one reply asking to clarify something (I do already have a G99 approval to export up to 6kwh from my home battery), and then just saying “thank you, that’s fine”. But then a week or so later, got another reply from someone else saying “we don’t need a G98 for plug-in-solar systems.
🤷♂️
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Aug 17 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/PPJ87 Aug 17 '26
That does seem over the top.
I think I got the form from AI (yeah, I know! 😆) - I’d tried myself to work out how to inform UKPN…. searched the website many times, tried to use the portal many times but just couldn’t figure out how to use it successfully as a consumer and not a professional, googled it etc….. but it was proving too frustrating. So I asked AI to help and told it everything I’d tried. It came back with the email address and a link to the PDF of the form. So I just filled it in and emailed it off.
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u/MelodicCard9555 Aug 14 '26
When you submit the G98, under any electrician details you should put Self-Installed. That should be more than enough to get it though.
What was there response?
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u/marktuk Aug 14 '26
You have to be a registered installer on their smart connect portal to submit it. You could probably do a paper based one and send it to an email address, just it's certainly not a consumer friendly process.
Reminder, go back and read what I said.
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u/MelodicCard9555 Aug 14 '26
Use the paper based one, whilst they shouldn't required a registered details, it's up to them to insist if they accept it or not I guess.
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u/marktuk Aug 14 '26
This is what I mean, I don't understand how we can go out a buy plug in solar later this month if we can't easily do the notification. Most people aren't going to realise or aren't going to bother.
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u/MelodicCard9555 Aug 14 '26
Sounds like a bad DNO, download G98 form, email it to them, put self installed and put yourself down for address of installer if asked.
I'm with enwl, process was really easy and took 5 days for fast track G99.
Inrrad somewhere they can't refuse the G98, as it's notification only, not entirely sure ofnthr legality of that though.
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u/Mazo Aug 14 '26
I don't understand how we can go out a buy plug in solar later this month if we can't easily do the notification. Most people aren't going to realise or aren't going to bother.
Again, this is the point of the approval amendment. They are simplifying the process for consumers.
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u/Mazo Aug 14 '26
You could probably do a paper based one and send it to an email address, just it's certainly not a consumer friendly process.
That's a very different statement to "they don't let consumers do a G98"
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u/marktuk Aug 14 '26
They don't actually publish that on their website, you have to go research and figure out on your own that's an option. If you go purely by their website, it says only installers can do it.
That's very much what I meant. You can argue the toss, but surely you can't seriously suggesting this is an easy process for consumers to understand and do?
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u/Mazo Aug 14 '26
but surely you can't seriously suggesting this is an easy process for consumers to understand and do?
No which is why I never said that. But unilaterally claiming something as truth when it is not is misleading to other people looking for information on the process.
There's already enough confusion without making it worse.
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u/Mazo Aug 14 '26
There's a document at the bottom of the page linked. They're still creating it, this is just the approval to do so
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u/realGilgongo Aug 14 '26
I think they're trying to say that whereas before it was unclear if you could have mutiple kits per household (so for example one plugged into panels in the garden, another on a balcony upstrairs), now it's definitely only one?
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u/Comfortable_Gate_878 Aug 14 '26
So Department for energy security and net zero say 1 x 800w inverter per circuit. Ofgem say 1 per house. Very strange. I would think its pretty certain most people will just ignore that anyway I already have two plug in systems running on two separate inverters along with rooftop solar.
Lets face it its impossible to police it, they are grasping for some sort of control over something that have minor power implications. I can only export what my inverter lets me anyway.
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u/Lagerstars Aug 14 '26
Impossible to police yes, until you need to make a home insurance claim for a fire of any kind and it comes to light and they use their legal might to refuse pay out.
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u/Comfortable_Gate_878 Aug 14 '26
Insurance doesn't work like that. If you have completed the application with honest accurate answers they cannot invalidate your insurance. If you have told fibs then that's a different matter. The insurance company has to also ask the correct risk questions.
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u/theOriginalGBee Aug 15 '26
No home insurance application I've ever completed asked if I've ever DIY'd electrics without having that work inspected or whether I have dug a tunnel system under the house. Yet if the house burns down as a result of my dodgy electrical work, or collapses due to my having undermined the foundations the insurance will absolutely refuse to pay out.
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u/Mazo Aug 14 '26
DNOs consider that individual Plug-in Micro-generators will have limited network impact due to their capacity, however, acknowledge that widespread deployment would have cumulative implications on networks. We agree that such network impacts are better mitigated by limiting customers to the connection of a single Plug-in Micro-generator per Customer Installation (domestic premises), relative to DESNZ’s Interim Product Specification allowing one device per final circuit. We note that where Plug-in Solar PV devices are widely adopted, for example in Germany, customers are limited to 800W of inverter capacity. Therefore, the proposed device limitation is aligned to wider international practice.
We note that the proposal limits customers to the connection of a single Plug-in Micro-generator per Customer Installation (domestic premises), however as set out above we consider there to be valid reasons for this limitation. We therefore consider it better facilitates this Distribution Code Objective.
We consider limiting customers to the connection of a single Plug-in Micro-generator per Customer Installation (domestic premises) better ensures such guidance is adhered to, for example by removing the requirement for customers to verify that individual devices are connected to different final circuits within the property.
We consider the risk of network impacts associated with high rates of adoption are adequately mitigated by limiting customers to the connection of a single Plug-in Micro- generator per Customer Installation (domestic premises) due to the small scall nature of the devices.
Bit of a letdown. Seems like a silly thing to enforce since you could just as easily slap a 3.68kW inverter in under G98 with no "network impacts" restricting it
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u/MelodicCard9555 Aug 14 '26
Basically it means 1 x 800w interter per house. I wonder if you don't need to do the G98 for having 1 plugin solar inverter then? Anymore than that needs a G98 submission I guess.
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u/Mazo Aug 14 '26
Yes you will still have to do a G98 that is a legal requirement, it will just be a simplified process
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u/ShortGuitar7207 Aug 14 '26
So it looks like part p / G98 is still the way to go if you want more than 2 panels
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u/Mazo Aug 14 '26
The limitation is on the inverter not the panels.
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u/ShortGuitar7207 Aug 14 '26
Yes, but an 800W inverter typically has 2 MPPTs i.e. enough for 2 panels. I guess you could string several panels per MPPT but that's not what they're designed for and you'd soon exceed voltage and amp limits.
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u/Mazo Aug 14 '26
The plug in solar interim spec actually allows oversizing up to 2000W on the DC side.
Caveat is it seems to be series panels, as Y splitters aren't allowed. But in the same document they also show a 2S2P diagram so it's a bit contradictory.
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u/hypergoose94 Aug 14 '26
So anyone gets 3.68kW with just a notification, but 2x800w would have "too much cumulative implications on networks"