1 Scope
This part of IEC 62257 specifies the general requirements for the protection of persons and equipment against electrical hazards to be applied in decentralised rural electrification systems. Requirements dealing with protection against electric shock are based on basic rules from IEC 61140 and IEC 60364.
Decentralized Rural Electrification Systems (DRES) are designed to supply electric power for sites which are not connected to a large interconnected system, or a national grid, in order to meet basic needs.
The majority of these sites are:
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• isolated dwellings,
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• village houses,
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• community services (public lighting, pumping, health centers, places of worship or cultural activities, administrative buildings, etc.),
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• economic activities (workshops, micro-industry, etc.).
The DRE systems fall into three categories:
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• process electrification systems (for example for pumping),
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• individual electrification systems (IES) for single users,
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• collective electrification systems (CES) for multiple users.
Process or individual electrification systems exclusively consist of two subsystems:
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• an electric energy generation subsystem,
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• the user's electrical installation.
Collective electrification systems, however, consist of three subsystems:
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• an electric energy generation subsystem,
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• a distribution subsystem, also called microgrid,
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• user’s electrical installations including interface equipment between the installations and the microgrid.
The general requirements specified in this part of IEC 62257 should be applied to all the identified categories of DRES. Application to each subsystem of a DRES is dealt within a specific subpart of IEC TS 62257‑9.