PV + micro-inverter feeding into mains supply?

[Vortex2]

In Austria you can feed up to 800 watts into the house mains from PV panels via a microinverter.

I think they simply plug into a wall socket .. via a "suicide plug".

I assume the inverter syncs in some way to the mains frequency.

Does anyone know anything about these?

Are they legal in the UK?

Will they screw up a smart meter?

[clv101]

I don't think that's a thing in the UK, and yeah, I don't think our smart meters will handle exports in the way you'd expect/want.

[mr brightside]

You'd want to know it forms a proper smooth sine wave too, not a step wave.

[adam2]

I would advise against use of these in the UK for several reasons.

Firstly, not keen on connection via a suicide plug. Only moderately suicidal it must be said as a shock to earth is impossible, and a shock between live and neutral only possible briefly before the inverter senses loss of grid connection and shuts down.

Secondly, some electricity meters may record back-feeding as extra consumption.

And of course no grant or subsidy is payable, unlike an installation done by a approved supplier.

The waveform is of relatively little importance as this is primarily determined by the mains supply. Backfeeding a few amps into a supply rated at 60 amps or more will only slightly degrade the waveform.