The Institute for Standardization of Bosnia and Herzegovina, through its Technical Committee BAS/TC 56, Conventional and alternative sources of electricity, adopted the second edition of the technical specification BAS IEC TS 62738:2022, Ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants – Design guidelines and recommendations, which is a translation of the English version of IEC TS 62738:2018.

BAS IEC TS 62738:2022 sets out general guidelines and recommendations for the design and installation of ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) power plants.

A PV power plant is defined within this document as a grid-connected, ground-mounted system, comprising multiple PV arrays and interconnected directly to a utility’s medium voltage or high voltage grid. Additional criteria is that PV power plants are restricted from access by non-qualified persons and are continuously monitored for safety and protection, either by on-site personnel or by active remote monitoring.

Technical areas addressed are those that largely distinguish PV power plants from smaller, more conventional installations, including ground mounted array configurations, cable routing methods, cable selection, overcurrent protection strategies, equipotential bonding over large geographical areas, and equipment considerations.

Safety and design requirements are referenced to the applicable requirements of IEC 62548 to address distinct differences relative to the design requirements for residential, commercial and other non-power plant applications.

The safety and design requirements refer to the applicable requirements of IEC 62548 to address distinct differences in design requirements for residential, commercial and other installations. Rooftop-mounted systems, building integrated PV (BIPV) and building applied PV (BAPV) are not included in the scope of this document.

The original texts of this international technical specification were prepared by the Technical Committee IEC TC 82, Solar photovoltaic energy systems, whose secretariat is held by the national standardization body of the United States of America (ANSI).