The standard "IEC 60364-5-551 Electrical installations of buildings - Part 5: Selection and installation of electrical equipment - Part 55: Other equipment - Part 551: Low-voltage generating sets" published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) describes the requirements for low-voltage and extra-low-voltage installations incorporating generating sets designed to supply all or part of the installation, either continuously or intermittently. This standard includes requirements for installations with the following supply arrangements:
This standard does not apply to self-contained items of extra-low voltage electrical equipment for which there is a specific product standard that includes both the energy source and the energy-using load and includes electrical safety requirements.
Specific requirements for suppliers of security services are contained in IEC 364-5-56. Before a generating set is installed in an installation connected to the public supply, the requirements of the public supply enterprise must be determined.
This standard considers generating sets with the following power sources:
This standard also takes into account production groups with the following electrical characteristics:
The use of generator groups for the following purposes is considered:
Where low voltage or very low voltage generating sets are used to power a facility, this standard applies either as a sole means of supply or as a backup in the event of supply failure or for use in parallel with the supply. Self-contained systems operating at very low voltage, comprising the energy source (usually batteries) and the load, are outside the scope of this standard.
Generators include not only combustion engines, turbines and rotating machines powered by electric motors, but also photovoltaic cells (which convert energy from light into electricity) and electrochemical accumulators or batteries. The protection of circuits fed by generators should be no less effective than that applied to mains-fed systems. Voltage and frequency variations are much more likely in generators than in mains power, and it must be ensured that these do not cause damage or danger to the equipment.
The protection of persons and equipment must be as effective in an installation supplied continuously or intermittently by a generating set as in a mains-supplied installation. Where static inverters are used, special requirements for bonding apply. A static inverter is an electronic system that produces an AC supply of a specific voltage, frequency and waveform from a DC source (usually a battery). When two or more generating sets operate in parallel, circulating harmonic currents are a possibility.
In short, this standard also applies to low-voltage and very low-voltage installations containing generator sets designed to supply all or part of the installation continuously or intermittently.
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