NEN New Platform DC aims to inform and advise

The first online meeting with 14 interested parties. The group appears to be sufficiently diverse to cover all facets of DC, possibly supplemented by guest representation from the DC working group under standards committee NEC 64. The scope of the platform is provisionally the working area of NPR 9090. One of the first items on the agenda is the election of a chairman. By general agreement, the gavel goes to Arjen Westerterp. He is engineer for electrical engineering, control engineering and instrumentation at a large power plant and also lecturer in e-vehicles

see the earlier activity NEN 9140 Veiilig werken aan elektrische voertuigen organised by the KIVI Elektrotechniek department.

Some questions were put to Westerterp about the how and why of a new Platform DC.

Why a Platform DC?

"This arises from the desire of the standards committee 363 064 'Electrical installations- Low voltage, WG-DC'. We want a connection between the platform and the DC working group under standards committee 363064 'Installation requirements, low voltage, NEC 64.' In this, the platform is the sounding board for specific themes put forward by the standards committee. This is to get more input from a broad working field, without the platform members having to commit to the required work in a standards committee. With the platform, we want to provide space for extensive substantive discussion."

Why only now?

"A stakeholder analysis was recently carried out by NEN, which showed the need for a platform. That was the immediate reason for starting the platform. At the DC working group, there had long been a desire for more professionals to participate in thinking about NPR 9090."

How many members are currently involved?

"At the first meeting, there were 14 of us interested."

And what is the added value of such a platform when there is already a standards committee as well?

"With such a platform, you get a broader exchange with the field. That ensures broader knowledge in standards development, which allows you to make a qualitatively stronger standard. The platform offers room for specific electrotechnical themes. These themes also play a role in the standards committees, but the platform provides additions and the standards committee in turn considers how these themes should be defined normatively."