3.2 MCS Standards MIS 3002, MIS 3012 and MGD Guides

Quick Answer: The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) is a product-and-installer quality mark. 2922-34 is an entry-level competence qualification. MCS MIS 3002 is the Solar PV Installation Standard for systems up to 50 kWp DC, normally connected in parallel with the distribution network on permanent buildings. Current-scheme contractors work to MIS 3002 Issue 6.0 (dated 18 March 2026, mandatory from 18 June 2026). Contractors on the redeveloped MCS:2025 scheme work to a separate PDF, MIS 3002:2025 Version 2.0, issued the same day. Passing 2922-34 does not MCS-certify you or your firm.

MCS is not the 2922 exam body

City & Guilds awards 2922-34. MCS certifies products and contractors (and then the contractor registers completed installations on the MCS Installation Database). Mixing those two organisations is a classic LO1 error. You can hold 2922-34, work for a non-MCS firm, and still be a competent electrician on a private PV job that never needs an MCS certificate. You can also hold 2922-34 and still be unusable as the named MCS installer until the firm is MCS-certified, audited and working to MIS 3002 plus MCS 001.

MIS 3002 section 8 and Appendix A treat named Level 3 PV awards as entry-level evidence that may be suitable for simple, non-complex systems. Issue 6.0 prints City & Guilds 2399-11 (installation) and 2399-12 (installation and maintenance) in that list, alongside LCL and BPEC equivalents. 2922-34 is City & Guilds' current Level 3 Award in the Installation and Maintenance of Small Solar Photovoltaic Systems — the successor small-PV competence qualification in that same family. Appendix A is explicit that a single qualification should not be presumed to prove an individual competent for all situations. That sentence is the whole point of the 2922-to-MCS conversation: the award is necessary evidence of training, not a contractor certificate.

MIS 3002 scope

MIS 3002 The Solar PV Standard (Installation) specifies requirements for MCS contractors undertaking supply, design, installation, set to work, commissioning and handover of solar PV systems that:

• supply permanent buildings
• are normally connected in parallel to the electricity distribution network
• have a maximum DC output of 50 kWp

That 50 kWp DC ceiling is an MCS installer-scheme scope limit. It is not the 2922 exam body's size limit, and it is not the ENA 16 A per phase connection threshold (that 16 A figure belongs with G98/G99 in the next section and is expanded in a later chapter). A 40 kWp school roof can sit inside MIS 3002. A 200 kWp warehouse does not.

Two PDFs, one issue date — do not pretend they are one document

On 18 March 2026 MCS published two installer-scheme documents:

• Current scheme: MIS 3002 Issue 6.0. Available from the publication date. Mandatory for MCS contractors certified in accordance with MIS 3002 from 18 June 2026. Issue 6.0 is described as a major update to Issue 5.0, including an extension to clause 5.5.5 and other small corrective amendments.
• Redeveloped installer scheme (MCS:2025): MIS 3002:2025 Version 2.0, also dated 18 March 2026. Mandatory for contractors certified to MCS:2025.

They are two files. The technical installation intent is close, but the business, pre-sale and competence material is not packaged identically. Current-scheme Issue 6.0 still contains pre-sale estimates, handover, maintenance and competence in one installation standard. Under MCS:2025 some of that consumer-facing material sits in separate scheme documents. For 2922 LO1, you must be able to name both and refuse the trap that "there is only one MIS 3002."

Clause 5.5.5 — non-MCS 012 mounting evidence

MCS 012 is the pitched-roof installation-kit product standard. Where the installation is in MCS 012 scope, pitched-roof kits shall be MCS 012 certified (MIS 3002 5.5.2). Where the job is outside MCS 012 scope, or no suitable MCS 012 certified mounting system exists, Issue 6.0 clause 5.5.5 allows a non-MCS 012 mounting system only if the contractor can evidence, for that specific system:

• structure and wind — a structural assessment and wind-loading calculation for the mounting system being installed
• fire — how fire performance has been maintained after installation
• weathertightness — how weather-tightness has been maintained after installation
• compatibility — that system components are compatible with one another
• and that the installation maintains the building's compliance with applicable Building Regulations, including structural safety, fire safety and weather-tightness, with devolved-nation guidance named in the clause

That evidence pack is an MCS contractor duty. Passing 2922-34 does not generate it.

MIS 3012, MGD 003 and MGD 005

MIS 3012 The Battery Standard is the MCS installation standard for electrical energy storage. The 2922 handbook lists it next to MIS 3002 under non-statutory guidance. If you quote self-consumption with a battery, MIS 3002 4.1.7 requires you to make it clear if you are not certified to MIS 3012.

MGD 003 is the MCS guidance for determining electrical self-consumption of domestic PV with and without storage. MIS 3002 4.1.2 requires the self-consumption estimate to follow MGD 003, or a method no less valid for systems outside MGD 003 scope.

MGD 005 Solar PV Shade Evaluation Procedure is listed in the 2922 handbook under LO1.1.1(b) non-statutory guidance. It is the MCS shade procedure. It is not a wiring regulation, not a substitute for BS 7671 712, and not a DNO connection code. You will calculate yield in a later chapter. What you must know here is why MCS performance estimates are built as:

Annual AC output (kWh) = kWp × Kk × SF

• kWp is the sum of the modules' nameplate watt-peak at STC.
• Kk is the location-specific kWh/kWp looked up from the MCS postcode-zone tables for that pitch and orientation.
• SF is the shade factor. A clear horizon with no near or far shading may use SF = 1.00. Any real shading produces SF < 1.

MCS uses that product so every contractor quotes generation on the same first-year basis. Proprietary software may be offered in addition, but it must not be given greater prominence than the MCS estimate.

Customer-facing estimate wording (MIS 3002 4.1.3) — paraphrase, not a reprint

Clause 4.1.3 requires the generation and self-consumption estimates to be given to the customer before the contract is awarded, in the prescribed table format, with a prescribed Important Note. In plain teaching language, that note tells the customer that PV output cannot be predicted with certainty because sunlight varies by location and by year; that the MCS procedure is guidance for the first year of generation only; that it is not a guarantee of performance; and that self-consumption is likewise not a guarantee, because external factors change how much energy the building actually uses from the array.

If SF is less than 1, clause 4.1.4 requires extra wording on top of that Important Note. Where the MCS shade method was used, the extra sentence states that shading will reduce output to the stated factor and that MCS believes the result will be within 10% of the stated energy estimate for most systems. Where another shade method was used, the extra sentence must say so, and confirm that the quoted system will still deliver at least 90% of the stated kWh. You do not need to memorise the legal paragraph as if this study guide wrote the standard. You do need to know that SF < 1 is not a silent number — it triggers extra customer wording.

Remote surveys trigger yet another extra note (4.1.5): orientation, pitch or shading were estimated, so actual performance may be significantly lower or higher.

Product marks: MCS 012, MCS 005 and MCS 017

• MCS 012 — pitched-roof installation kits (product certification of the mounting system).
• MCS 005 — PV module product certification for standard listed modules.
• MCS 017 — bespoke building-integrated modules.

MIS 3002 5.5.1 requires modules certified to MCS 005 or MCS 017 and listed on the MCS product directory. That is a product listing rule, not a 2922 pass certificate.

Scenario: electrician with 2922-34 joining an MCS firm

You have just passed 2922-34 and start with an MCS-certified contractor. What changes on Monday morning?

You still isolate, prove dead and install to BS 7671 and the IET PV Code of Practice. What is new is the firm's MCS system: using listed MCS 005/017 modules and MCS 012 kits (or a 5.5.5 evidence pack), calculating kWp × Kk × SF with MGD 005 where shade exists, issuing the 4.1.3/4.1.4 customer notes before contract, notifying the DNO under G98 or G99, commissioning to the Code of Practice, and registering the installation on the MCS Installation Database after commissioning. Your 2922-34 certificate is one piece of competence evidence in the contractor's MCS 001 / MIS 3002 file. It is not the firm's MCS certificate, and it does not let you trade as "MCS certified" as a sole trader until you complete contractor certification.