Is neutral-earth bonding essential?
April 2024 by Eclipse Energy
The neutral-earth bond is essential for the safe and correct operation of any earth leakage or residual current device downstream of the inverter output.
The topic of the neutral-earth bond is a contentious issue amongst installers of inverters that do not automatically form a neutral-earth bond when islanding from the grid. Victron inverters perform this function automatically when programmed to the South African grid code.
The issue in our opinion is not contentious at all, it is simply illegal to permanently bond the neutral to earth beyond the point of supply. Historically there have been relay controlled neutral-earth bridge boxes sold as aftermarket fixes for this issue, however the latest NRS-097-2-1 document, published 2024, lays out more stringent requirements for these aftermarket boxes which may not be achievable with most of the inverters currently on the market.
The ECA put the issue to bed in a very well documented succinct article published on the 18th of January 2024.
Read further on the ECA website here.
