Solar PV Cable Standards Compared: EN 50618, IEC 62930 and IS 17293

Photovoltaic plants need kilometres of DC cable between modules, string combiner boxes and inverters. These cables live outdoors for decades: in sun, ozone, rain, frost and heat, often clipped to metal frames and exposed to abrasion. General-purpose cables are not designed for that, which is why PV cables have their own standards.

For most cable makers three standards matter: EN 50618 in Europe, IEC 62930 internationally and IS 17293 in India. All three are in CablePLM's standards library.

Common ground: what a PV cable looks like

The three standards describe essentially the same product:

• Rated voltage 1.5 kV DC – matching modern 1500 V string systems.
• Tinned, flexible copper conductor – tinning protects the strands against corrosion; flexibility makes installation along module frames easy.
• Cross-linked, halogen-free insulation and sheath – for heat resistance, mechanical toughness and low smoke and corrosive gas emission in a fire.
• Weather resistance – UV, ozone and water resistance demonstrated by tests.
• Long service life – designed for outdoor service over the lifetime of a solar plant.

Most PV cables are single-core, typically 1.5 to 16 mm² for string wiring and larger sizes for the DC main cables between combiner boxes and inverters.

EN 50618: the European H1Z2Z2-K

EN 50618, Electric cables for photovoltaic systems, defines the cable type known by its code designation H1Z2Z2-K:

• H – harmonised type,
• 1 – voltage rating class,
• Z2 – cross-linked, halogen-free compound for the insulation, and again Z2 for the sheath,
• -K – flexible conductor for fixed installation (class 5).

Key characteristics:

• rated 1.0/1.0 kV AC and 1.5/1.5 kV DC,
• tinned class 5 copper conductor per IEC 60228,
• outdoor service with a maximum conductor temperature of 90 °C in normal use and a higher limit permitted for a limited time,
• flame propagation tested according to EN 60332-1-2,
• a test programme that includes ozone resistance, weathering/UV resistance, damp heat, resistance to acids and alkalis, dynamic penetration, cold bending and cold impact.

When PV cables are installed inside buildings in the EU, their reaction-to-fire performance is also subject to the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) classification according to EN 50575, which adds a separate classification and marking layer to the product.

IEC 62930: the international standard

IEC 62930, Electric cables for photovoltaic systems with a voltage rating of 1.5 kV DC, was developed to give the global market a common reference based on the European experience. It is the standard most often quoted in tenders outside Europe and North America.

The main points to know:

• It covers the same 1.5 kV DC application and a very similar test philosophy.
• It allows class 5 flexible conductors and also class 2 stranded conductors, which is useful for larger DC main cables where flexibility is less important than cost and compactness.
• Material and test requirements are close to EN 50618, but they are not identical, so a cable certified to one standard is not automatically certified to the other.

IS 17293: India's PV cable standard

India is one of the largest solar markets in the world, and its PV cables are specified to IS 17293, the Indian Standard for electric cables for photovoltaic systems rated 1.5 kV DC. It is aligned with the IEC approach, so manufacturers who already produce to IEC 62930 will find a familiar structure. For the Indian market, BIS certification and marking to IS 17293 are what buyers and EPC contractors check.

What differs in practice

For a cable maker supplying several markets, the differences are less about the basic construction and more about:

The practical approach is to design one base construction that satisfies the strictest requirements, then manage per-market variants: marking, conductor class, certificates and datasheets.

Designing PV cables in CablePLM

CablePLM includes calculation method packs for EN 50618, IEC 62930 and IS 17293. For each, the construction rules are encoded once; you enter conductor size and class, and get the construction, bill of materials, datasheet and current ratings for your installation conditions — see our guide to IEC 60287 current ratings. Variants for different markets stay linked to the same design, so a change in material or construction is reflected in every market version.

The Qualification & Quality add-on keeps track of which certificates and type tests cover which designs — useful when the same cable family is sold under three standards.

Making PV cables for more than one market? Book a demo and we'll show CablePLM on your range.