• Projects to review electrical and gas standards underway
• What the New Zealand-EU MRA means for electrical equipment
• Addendum to EV charging guidelines now available

A project to review AS/NZS 3760 is one of three New Zealand projects we have commissioned for the first year of our new three-year agreement with Standards New Zealand. This agreement supports the full range of standards activities related to electrical and gas safety. 

Ongoing problems in both New Zealand and Australia where AS/NZS 3760 is applied outside its scope have prompted us to commission Standards New Zealand to identify the issues and consult on the merits of revising the standard.

This review will consider the range of scenarios where this standard is applied more broadly than intended – e.g. testing of electric vehicle supply equipment and photovoltaic systems – and if necessary develop a proposal for the revision of the standard. Any revision will not start before 2020-2021.

If you're a stakeholder, you can get involved by contacting Standards NZ. 

Government and businesses are looking at the potential role of hydrogen as New Zealand develops a renewable energy pathway to a clean, green carbon neutral for New Zealand by 2050.

Hydrogen has potential for a number of roles in our energy mix. It could for example replace or in the intermediate term supplement natural gas and LPG as fuel gas in New Zealand’s economy.

This project intends to identify areas where current Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations standards don't cater for the supply or use of hydrogen as a fuel gas, and develop detailed proposals to address those deficiencies.

While the focus of this work is on hydrogen, biogas also has a potential role as a fuel gas and where relevant this review will also identify where changes to standards may be needed to cater for the safe supply and use of biogas.

Register or get involved by contacting Standards NZ. 

The way we generate and use electricity is changing with the implementation of more sustainable and renewable technologies. 

This project is intended to develop the prescriptive provisions needed for the construction of TT (terre-terre) earthing systems for low voltage installations supplied from New Zealand supply systems. These include: minimum earth impedance, RCD (residual current device) tripping level, and the wiring configuration of switchboards used for TT installations. 

It will also specify what is needed to change from a MEN (multiple earthed neutral) supply to a TT-configured installation, and the selection criteria for transition from using the MEN system to the TT system.

Contact Standards NZ to get involved. 

New Zealand’s MRA with the European Union (EU MRA) has limited value for establishing the suitability of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) for New Zealand.

The EU MRA is a simple test and certification MRA. It is very different from the TTMRA.

It does not recognise any elements of the EU regulatory system and since there is no EU certification requirement for EEE, there is no such thing as ‘CE approval’.

The EU MRA also allows the EU to accredit test labs to produce test reports to AS/NZS Standards and accredit certification bodies to produce certificates for products complying with AS/NZS Standards. It requires the accredited test labs and certification bodies to be notified to New Zealand by an EU member state. However, because none have been notified to date for electrical safety, the EU EEE MRA is not operational for electrical and electronic equipment safety.

We've just published an addendum to the second edition of our Electric Vehicle charging safety guidelines.

The Addendum provides updated advice on electric vehicle charging safety to address emerging technology and applications.

It should be read alongside the guidelines noting that in some instances this additional advice replaces the advice given in the guidelines.