Standing Out Magazine | NOVEMBER 2022
LEGAL
Why you may need to register certain off-grid installations Celine Bakker and Stefan le Roux from SL Law update us on specific certificates required when installing off-grid electrical and water systems.
Small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) systems, devices or machines designed to generate and supply electricity to a solar system installation, pose a safety risk when being connected to the City’s grid. It is therefore required under the Cape Town City Electrical Supply By-law of 2010 that they be registered and authorised. Registration ensures that all who make use of the electricity from the City’s grid pay for such accordingly. Consequently, it is illegal to run one’s meter backwards or to avoid paying one’s share of maintenance towards the grid. Should a system be unauthorised and tied to a grid, such will be considered tampering. Besides SSEG systems, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems must also be registered, be they on or off-grid systems, while other solar systems need not necessarily undergo the registration process. As can quickly be deciphered, it may be a little complicated to determine which systems to register and which not. To ensure that no confusion arises, the City has necessitated off-grid systems to also be registered to prevent them from being mistaken for grid-tied systems.
REGISTRATION LUCKILY DOES NOT APPLY TO EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN Solar water heaters which use thermal energy to heat water or emergency equipment like standby generators (unless they are connected to the City’s electrical distribution network) for example, need not be registered. However, solar PV panels directly connected to a hot water geyser element with a change-over switch are required to be registered. The question may arise as to why an off-grid system needs to be registered in the first place, particularly since it is not connected to the City’s electricity infrastructure or power grid. However, it appears that of the systems that have been registered thus far, only 2% have been confirmed as actually being off-grid systems. Nevertheless, in terms of the registration of off-grid systems, such need not comply with City standards. Importantly, off-grid equipment is still required to comply with national safety standards. In addition, a letter signed by a registered electrician will be necessary to verify the system as being an off-grid one.
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