The statements posted by the gentleman from New Zealand, are a good example for my questioning some of the terms, we in the US, use in referring to various electrical systems.
My limited education in the various countries, I have worked, and examining their technology approach, has revealed a sharp contrast in definition.
Countries using the system described as a (MEN) multi earthed neutral system, include all conductors that are electrically connected.
Our terms of neutral, grounding electrode conductor, bonding, and equipment ground conductor, imply that each is a different system. Their purpose may be for different reasons, but they are one system, and considered a direct connected circuit conductor, in most countries, except here in the US, as defined in the NEC when addressing separately derived systems.
The definition of the term neutral is that it a component of the MEN system, intended to carry load and fault current. Ground electrode conductor is a component of the MEN system, intended for carrying parallel fault current, and transient surge current. Equipment ground conductor is a component of the MEN system, intended to carry fault current. I have no problem with these definitions.
Remember Europe had transmission, distribution, and secondary voltage transformers before the US. This MEN concept was established, as the safety grounding system. We use this concept in our utility application as a MGN system. I have never seen reference to MGN in the NEC code book.
