28 ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • National Rules Amendments to the National Rules for Electrical Installations Overview of Chapter 8 Introduction Amendment A1 has seen the replacement of “Annex 8 Energy Efficiency” with a new “Chapter 8 - Energy Efficiency”. The new Chapter 8 comprises two main parts: 8.1 - Energy efficiency and 8.82 - Prosumer's Electrical Installations. Each of these two main parts has associated Annexes which account for over 40% of Chapter 8. Figure 1 above shows the fundamental difference between a “consumer” shown as the dwelling on the left and a “prosumer” on the right. Both installations are supplied at LV from the grid via underground services (1) terminating in the DSO (Distribution System Operator i.e. ESB) meter cabinet and feeding onto the customer’s consumer unit (2). The dwelling on the right also has solar PV Panels (3) and is therefore both a producer and a consumer i.e. a prosumer. 8.1 - Functional aspects - Energy efficiency Part 8.1 outlines requirements and recommendation in relation to This article, the 2nd of three, deals with Chapter 8 Energy Efficiency including Prosumers Electrical installations. Changes to Parts 718 and 722 were covered in the July August issue. About the Author Brendan Dervan is a Chartered Engineer with over 45 years’ experience in Building Services. He was the founder of Dervan Engineering Consultants (DEC) established in 1999. The Company provided M&E consultancy and project management services to a diverse range of clients in multiple sectors. In 2016 his practice merged with Cundall, a global multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy firm. He retired from mainstream consultancy in 2019 and set up Best Training. He is a member of the Electrical Division of Engineer’s Ireland and from 2020 to 2023 represented them on NSAI’s ETC/TC 02 committee which oversees the development of the Wiring Rules. He is the author of “The Wiring Rules in Ireland, an Illustrated Guide to I.S.10101”. He provides specialist CPD courses on a wide range of topics to consulting engineers, contractors, public bodies etc. For further information on these training courses please visit: www.besttraining.ie. Brendan Dervan, Chartered Engineer. designing for Energy Efficiency in electrical installations in a similar way to how Chapters 3 to 7 covered other aspects such as safety, capacity and resilience. The requirements of Chapter 8 must not conflict with the requirements of those earlier chapters. It is applicable for both new and existing facilities and should be implemented throughout the life cycle of the facility. Part 8.1 is effectively an updated and expanded version of what was originally in Annex 8. It is broken up into 9 sections including topics such as Sectors of activities; Design requirements and recommendations; Determination of the zones, usages and meshes; Energy efficiency and load management system; Maintenance and enhancement of the performance of the installation and Parameters for implementation of efficiency measures. The primary objective is to optimize the use of electrical energy by minimizing energy losses, using electricity at the right time and at the lowest cost and maintaining the performance throughout the lifetime of the installation. The standard defines 6 classes of electrical installation energy efficiency from EE0 to EE5 as shown in Figure 2. Part 8.1 also has two associated annexes 8.1A and 8.1B. Annex 8.1A – “Determination of Transformer & Figure 1 - Consumer versus Prosumer Installation
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