Fuenkli Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Hi, I have a 4.4kW PV system which is connected it to the grid without official approval from the city. I did the installation myself. The system works very well and now I want to make the grid connection legal. I am not interested to feed power back into the grid. The inverter is programmed for 0 watt export. The house has a Landis and Gyr prepaid meter. Can somebody who knows the Cape Town situation please advice what the best way to do this is? Details of system: - 22 x 200W mono panels (connected in two series strings of 11 panels each) - Goodwe GW5048ES 5kW hybrid inverter - 8 x 12V 200Ah lead carbon batteries (connected in 2 series strings of 4 batteries each) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
___ Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 You need a registered Pr. Eng. To complete the document below. And then you have to fill in the other documents which you can find on the Cape Town website. You're actually supposed to do these things BEFORE it's commissioned :-) Your best bet is likely to pay an installer to correct any mistakes and sign it off. I know two who keep their own engineer on hand to do sign-offs on their own systems, I am unsure if they will do self-installed systems. I can point you in their direction if you want to try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuenkli Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 thank you for the reply. I am a retired electrical engineer. The PV system is my hobby. I would like to try to get the approval done with the help of a registered Pr. Eng. myself. In the meantime I will disconnect the system from the grid. attached are some pictures of my system: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hobson Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 37 minutes ago, Fuenkli said: thank you for the reply. I am a retired electrical engineer. The PV system is my hobby. I would like to try to get the approval done with the help of a registered Pr. Eng. myself. In the meantime I will disconnect the system from the grid. attached are some pictures of my system: Nice neat install. I really like Goodwes. I know that the Goodwe has two MPPTs. How did you allocate the various panels? It looks like you have more than 2 orientations for panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuenkli Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 thanks for the compliment. I was lucky with the roof orientation. All panels face exactly north at an angle of 25 Deg. The 11 panels next to the water panels are in string 1. The other 11 panels are in string 2. I also like the Goodwe inverter. I did however have a problem. The inverter made some funny noises under heavy PV load (not when only using batteries as power source). It also showed string 1 always at a lower output even after switching the cables coming from the roof around. Jack Song from Goodwe and his R&D engineers identified the noise based on my audio recording as a result of an old control board. He send me a new board with the latest firmware (1212) and now the inverter is dead quiet and both strings show identical power output. I use EzManage to monitor and program the inverter. There is another issue I have noticed. However Jack told me that it is normal and nothing to be concerned with. When the panel output exceeds the demand from the inverter (happens often because I had to set export to 0 Watt) sometimes the inverter moves the string voltage below and not above the maximum power point to reduce string output. The string voltage can go as low as 120 Volts in bright sunshine to control power output. Maybe it is my imagination but the inverter seemed to get much hotter running the strings at low voltage and high current vs high voltage and low current to control string output. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
___ Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 11 hours ago, Fuenkli said: In the meantime I will disconnect the system from the grid LOL. What I mean to say is, just don't tell anyone it's already commissioned. The process is that you apply for SSEG first. Once that is approved, then the system gets installed, and then finally it gets signed off. Some installers charge a so-called "documentation fee" to do this for you (the price tag for this is usually 4 figures), but if you know what you are doing you can do all of this (sans final sign-off) yourself. Then get the Pr. Eng to sign the last document, which is essentially just 6 boxes that needs to be ticked to certify NRS097-2-1 compliance, that is, things related to anti-islanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuenkli Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 thanks Plonkster got it. Yes please put me in contact with a Pr. Eng or installer here in CT who can help me with the NRS097-2-1 compliance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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