Earthing is the process of disposing leaked current into the ground to minimise it’s harmful effects on electrical appliances. It is done to protect valuables electrical appliances from burning down during a current leakage. Similarly, solar system earthing is installed to prevent our solar system from a lightning strike during rainy season and thunder storm.
A solar panel system is a very expensive power generation system that can cost you in lacs. It is necessary to provide your system a shield against lightening strikes because in case it hits your system, it would definitely burn your whole system down. So, it is always recommended to provide a backup route to current for the safety of your system.
Importance of solar system earthing
Solar system earthing brings a lot of benefits and it is also a must have part of every house. Let’s see some how earthing is beneficial and what are the advantages of it.
1. Lightening strike issues
Lightening strikes are very much common in a rainy season. As mostly solar panels are installed on roof top, they are most vulnerable to lightening strikes. There are minimum chances for a lightening strike to hit your system but if somehow it hits your system it can do a lot of damage.
It cannot only damage your solar panels but it can also deliver high amount of current to your home appliances. Solar system earthing provides an alternate route for current to flow into the ground. Hence, proper earthing can save you a lot of money.
2. Electrical appliances safety
It is essential to provide an earth connection to your appliances. Sometimes, live wire comes in direct contact with the electrical devices which causes current to flow through it’s body. Without earthing, your appliance are not safe and it can easily damage your electronic devices.
3. Electrical Shocks
Electric shocks are very common if you have installed 2 phase wiring at your place. Current leakage can cause a normal and severe electric shock in some cases. by investing on earthing you can prevent yourself and your family from a serious damage.
4. NEPRA Requirement
Under NEPRA net metering rules, earthing is required for all the users who are willing to shift to net metering. It is stated in the NEPRA rules that every solar panel user must have to provide it a grounding path for safety purposes. Without earthing, you cannot proceed your net metering process and it is also put your property in danger.
Components Required for Earthing
Let’s now discuss the components that we need in order to set up earthing connection.
1-Lightening Arrester
Lightening arresters are used to catch the lightening strikes and conduct the current through the copper wire into the ground. It is installed beside the solar system and it must be kept higher than the solar panels. Installers mostly fix the arrester with the structure of the solar plates which is very dangerous and it can destroy your panels.
2- Bare Copper Wire
Bare copper wire is used while earthing the solar panels. It is available in market in different qualities and sizes. 16mm copper wire is commonly used and it is considered reliable. It’s one end is connected with lightening arrester and the other end is grounded in in soil.
3- Bore/ Pit
A pit or bore is needed to ground the earth wire. Many people ask about the depth of the bore, the depth of a bore is totally dependent on quality of soil. If the soil is good at the depth of 10 to 15 feet, it is considered perfect for grounding the wire. Normally, a 25 to 30 feet bore is enough to install an earth connection.
Soil has better conducive properties than sand so, it is highly recommended to prefer soil grounding instead of sand grounding. For the areas having sandy soil, special chemicals are used to deal with this problem.
4- Chemicals
Special chemicals or mixture of charcoal and salt are used to increase the conductivity of the soil. Better conductivity provides better dissipation of current. As a solar energy expert, I will highly appreciate the use of these chemicals so that you can get fruit of your investment.
Prices of solar earthing equipments
It will roughly cost you Rs.30,000/- to Rs. 35,000/- for one earth connection. The number of earth phase connections may vary depending upon the size of solar panel system. If you have 15KW or 20KW system, you may have to install multiple earthing connections.
Now let’s see how much does the earth phase components cost:
| Components | Price |
|---|---|
| Lightening Arrester (Copper) | Rs. 10,000/- |
| Lightening Arrester (Brass) | Rs. 6,000/- |
| Copper Wire (10mm) | Rs.95/ft |
| Copper Wire (16mm) | Rs.140/ft |
| Copper Wire (25mm) | Rs.265/ft |
| Super Earth Gel Powder (Chemical) | Rs.3,000/- |
| Copper Strip (25x3) | Rs. 2900/- |
Misconception about earthing
We’ve seen many advantages of having earth connection. But, people still have misconceptions about it and they still believe in some myths. Let’s bust those myths.
1- Solar system attract lightening
Solar system is used to generate electricity using light. Just because it generates electricity it doesn’t mean it attracts lightening. Lightening strikes on random places and it’s chances are pretty much low to hit a particular point.
Solar system doesn’t attract lightening at all it has nothing to do with it. If you are worried about safety of your system then you must install lightening arrester to tackle this problem.
2- Keep the bore as deep as possible
A bore/pit is used to ground the copper wire to dissipate the effect of leaked current. People believes that they would get better benefits of grounding if they keep the bore as deep as possible. This is totally false concept instead, bury the earth wire in soil from 10 to 30 feet maximum.
3- Install the lightening arrester on solar panel stand
Almost 90% of people install lightening arrester on solar stands/structure. It is very dangerous practice as it is capable of destroying whole system just in matter of seconds. Always install lightening arrester away from your solar system and keep it higher than panels.
