Standards Report

The last EL-001 committee meeting was held in Canberra during October 2014.

AS/NZS 3000 Wiring Rules

The committee considered a number of reports from the seven AS/NZS 3000 revision working groups based in Australia and New Zealand.

Some submissions have been accepted for adoption, some are to be further revised for re-submission to the next EL-001 meeting for adoption. Some areas of the previously agreed proposed changes have not been started or are in the early stages of providing firm submissions for adoption.

Some re-drafting of the current text of AS/NZS 3000 is necessary to cover the adopted submissions.

It is expected that the next two meetings of EL-001 committee, until mid-2015, will mainly be covering submission of amendments of the current text of AS/ NZS 3000, these will also include some new provisions, many due to changes necessary for new technology being introduced in Australia and New Zealand.

AS/NZS 3010 Generating sets

A progress report on the amendment of AS/NZS 3010 was made and it was agreed that two sub-committee members be co-opted as a drafting leaders to complete the re-drafting following the consideration of the public comment received.

This is expected to be completed during November 2014, and the second draft will be put to the AS/NZS 3010 drafting group for approval for wider distribution to the EL-001 committee for approval for circulation as a public comment document. The public comments received have resulted in substantial changes being made to the original draft.

It is expected that the second public comment draft will be released January 2015 for a public comment period of six weeks.

AS/NZS 3012 Construction and Demolition sites

Development work on the provisions for changes to the lighting levels for emergency lighting systems on building sites has been completed and requires some amendment and addition to the text of the draft standard to be completed.

This is expected to be completed by November 2014, and the second draft will be put to the AS/NZS 3012 drafting group for approval for wider distribution to the EL-001 committee for approval for circulation as a public comment document.

It is expected that the second public comment draft will be released January 2015 for a public comment period of six weeks.

AS/NZS 5033 PV Arrays

A new issue of AS/NZS 5033:2014 was published on the 6th November 2014. While this issue is not cited by the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010, and this will not occur until late 20i5 /early 2016, this edition gives a consolidation of the changes of the current AS/NZS 5033:2012 and the citation amendment in schedule 2 of the current Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010.

End users may find the new edition easier to use. The new issue has been approved for use in New Zealand by the Minister of Energy as part of the publication process.

Also contained in the new edition are the “Requirements of (High) Risk” inspections, which have to be carried out by an electrical inspector during certification of PV systems.

Alan Cuthbert EL-001 Representative