Technical Information: Grounding in Off-Grid Systems
Technical Information: Grounding in Off-Grid Systems
Technical Information: Grounding in Off-Grid Systems
In off-grid systems with Sunny Island, the stand-alone grid distributes the energy. AC loads draw energy from the
stand-alone grid and AC sources (e.g. PV inverters) feed in energy. Distribution grids can be designed differently.
The grid configuration of the distribution system determines how it is grounded.
This technical information gives an overview of the following topics:
• Grid configurations of stand-alone grids with Sunny Island
• Ground electrode connection
• Required protective devices for personal protection
This document does not replace any locally applicable standards or directives.
TN System
The most common grid configuration is the TN system (French: Terre Neutre). Here, the neutral point of the source is
grounded. The neutral conductor of the system is connected to this neutral point. The exposed conductive parts of the
connected loads are connected with the grounded neutral point of the source via protective conductors. A distinction is
made between the TN-C system (French: Terre Neutre Combiné) and the TN-S system (French: Terre Neutre Séparé).
In the TN-C system the PEN conductor is a combination of the grounding conductor and the neutral conductor.
In the TN-S system the neutral conductor and the grounding conductor are separate.
TT System
In a TT system (French: Terre Terre), the neutral point of the source is grounded, as it is in TN systems. However,
the exposed conductive parts of the loads are connected to separate ground electrodes of the system using protective
conductors. The neutral conductor must not be grounded in the load system. This grid configuration has no direct
grounding conductor connection between the exposed conductive parts of the equipment and the neutral point of the
source. This is only possible when connected to ground. The connection to ground cannot reliably trigger a circuit breaker
under fault conditions. Therefore, residual-current devices are required in TT systems.