POLICY AND ADVOCACY 2021 HAS SEEN SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITY IN THE POLICY AND ADVOCACY AREA WITH MANY STATE AND FEDERAL POLICIES, CODES, STANDARDS AND INITIATIVES BEING DRAFTED ALL WITHIN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. THE NATIONAL POLICY TEAM ARE CONSTANTLY ADVOCATING FOR MEMBERS AND THE ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY. IF THERE IS AN ISSUE THAT AFFECTS YOU, PLEASE CONTACT US.
NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION CODE CHANGES WILL AFFECT CONTRACTORS Rooftop solar
Energy monitoring metering
Allowance for rooftop solar to be installed at a later date. This includes cabling provisions to be installed. A minimum of 20% of the roof space must be available for solar panel installation.
The NCC is proposing to increase the need for specific energy monitoring metering for specific applications. Some of these include artificial lighting, appliance power, central hot water systems, renewables, EV charging and battery systems. This will have significant impacts on switchboard design, location and cost.
Electric vehicle (EV) charging
The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) released its draft National Construction Code 2022 (NCC) in two separate rounds of consultation. Both sets of consultation have been wide ranging and have potential impacts for NECA members. NECA continues to advocate that NCC rules should focus on building and construction rules and not overlap into the already heavily regulated electrical industry. Round one of the consultation process focused primarily on building construction requirements, but round two was dedicated to energy efficiency, where significant changes have been proposed. If adopted in 2022 these changes will include the following.
Provision of a dedicated distribution board on each level in Class 2 building carparks for electric vehicle charging stations. These distribution boards are required to have a minimum rating of 12 kW and a capacity to operate between 11pm and 7am daily, and it must contain all control equipment for these charging stations. In addition to this, there must be capacity for a dedicated energy meter to record consumption and this space must be labelled to avoid it being used for other purposes. Further to the need for dedicated switchboards, Class 2 buildings must have adequate space to install cable tray for future charging devices and must be installed to within 20 metres of the nearest edge of each car parking space. For Class 3-9 buildings there are further requirements that need to be considered.
Main switchboard considerations As part of the proposed EV and rooftop solar provisions, the main switchboard must contain labelled spaces for the future installation of solar rooftop and associated battery systems. These must be two three-phase circuit breakers as part of any new main switchboard. One component of the proposed amendments, that NECA believes has been overlooked, is the need to provide suitable space or dedicated rooms for the main switchboard and other distribution boards in the building design. With the additional provisions proposed above, and the additional clearances in AS/ NZS 3000, main switchboards have effectively increased in size by at least 20%, which creates a further footprint for these large switchboards in the ever-reducing space for them to go.
STANDARDS AUSTRALIA COMMITTEES Throughout 2021 NECA has been re-establishing itself as the leader in industry representation on committees for key Australian Standards. NECA now has one person coordinating these committee representations, to ensure our members have quality representation by NECA staff or members. Currently NECA has representation over 30 committees with around seven vacancies. Recently NECA asked all members who would be interested in joining one of Standards Australia’s committees to contact us to express their interest. The purpose of this was to fill vacant spots and to build a list of keen and willing members that can be called upon in the event of new committees being established, or vacancies on existing committees becoming available. There is still time for anyone to express interest, and this can be done via email to standards@neca.asn.au
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December 2021
