Hello Guys

Have you heard about this draft legislation and is it a cause of concern.

Apparently every Solar Panel and Generator installed/in use must be registered.

Thanks

Paul

Consultation Paper-Rules for Registration of SSEG.pdf

Did anyone answer this question about NERSA? Would like to know what's cooking (while there is power)

 

They are mandated by law to draw up something. After lots of people complained, the current set of regulations were withdrawn. But they will be back.

My uncle works for one of the state departments, mentioned over the weekend two of their electricians were killed on the wire, probably cause someone had a genset on and fed power back to the grid. The regulation has a lot todo with safety and compliance 

7 hours ago, SilverNodashi said:

My uncle works for one of the state departments, mentioned over the weekend two of their electricians were killed on the wire, probably cause someone had a genset on and fed power back to the grid. The regulation has a lot todo with safety and compliance 

I doubt that some maplotter had his Honda 8kW going and was back feeding and powered up the overhead lines. Perhaps a large wind or solar farm or the backup generator for a large hospital or a factory. Backfeeding for a small portable generator when the grid is down would be akin to a dead short - the unit will trip.

If the regulation had a lot to do with safety and compliance then why the inclusion of off-grid systems and the need to know the size of the system? Methinks some bureaucrat thought  getting everyone to register is a good idea and there were not enough brain cells to come up with a counter proposal so we get lumped with someone's brainfart.

In this vein some idiot wants to declare Cyndon dactylon (kweekgras) as a Category 2 invasive species.  Cyndon is a global problem and very invasive but it is indigenous to Southern Africa so some half-wit has read the American Journal of Rangeland Management seen that it is a problem and thought  "Oh we have that grass here - we should  redouble our efforts to contain it." If this imbecile has his/her way I will need a permit for a grass that has grown on my farm for thousands of years.

3 hours ago, Chris Hobson said:

I doubt that some maplotter had his Honda 8kW going and was back feeding and powered up the overhead lines. Perhaps a large wind or solar farm or the backup generator for a large hospital or a factory. Backfeeding for a small portable generator when the grid is down would be akin to a dead short - the unit will trip.

Three thoughts around that. The first is that synchronous generators is a thing and more common than I thought once, so perhaps not some maplotter with a small thing, but someone might have a big 100kva Diesel. Second thought: Someone who lived close to a wind farm once told me of the poor power they had at times... turns out the wind farm was creating an island. Not sure how true this story is. Third thought, I seem to recall from many years ago that you were supposed to throw a chain across the lines and tie it to a grounding point using a padlock before working on it... perhaps this applies to lines that you can actually reach from the ground using a ladder or a bucket :-)

As I recall from previous discussions of the now withdrawn proposed legislation, the fines for non-compliance would be several million Rand and/or many years of jail time. Since no minimum generation capacity was specified it demonstrated complete lack of intelligence or at least logic on the part of NERSA. The interpretation of the requirement to register any and all devices with a generating capacity of less than 1MW is that I would have to register the 20W solar panel driving the pump for my evacuated tube solar hot water heater. Even more insane is the implication that my 16 year old Casio watch, replaced by a smart watch, but still working perfectly, with its tiny solar panel ring on the edge of the watch face and of unknown capacity, would also have to be registered. Likewise would it apply to some poor person living in a mud hut somewhere in the outback, to register a small panel, of insignificant capacity, to charge his cheap cell phone should he even have one. Considering the extreme fines, it would be tantamount to suicide not to register these generators of minimal generating capacity. It really takes outrageous arrogance to publish such brain damaged (to coin a Steve Jobs expression) ideas for public comment.

 

On 2018/06/15 at 6:36 PM, Chris Hobson said:

I doubt that some maplotter had his Honda 8kW going and was back feeding and powered up the overhead lines. Perhaps a large wind or solar farm or the backup generator for a large hospital or a factory. Backfeeding for a small portable generator when the grid is down would be akin to a dead short - the unit will trip.

If the regulation had a lot to do with safety and compliance then why the inclusion of off-grid systems and the need to know the size of the system? Methinks some bureaucrat thought  getting everyone to register is a good idea and there were not enough brain cells to come up with a counter proposal so we get lumped with someone's brainfart.

In this vein some idiot wants to declare Cyndon dactylon (kweekgras) as a Category 2 invasive species.  Cyndon is a global problem and very invasive but it is indigenous to Southern Africa so some half-wit has read the American Journal of Rangeland Management seen that it is a problem and thought  "Oh we have that grass here - we should  redouble our efforts to contain it." If this imbecile has his/her way I will need a permit for a grass that has grown on my farm for thousands of years.

As strange as it sounds, I know some gensets don't cut out with a deadmans wire to the grid. Have seen it happen once when someone forgot to switch off the main isolator, couldn't understand why the genie was running at full speed with no load on. 

My one friend sells and installs big gensets and he one told me a story where they were called out to fix a genset installed by someone else. For some odd reason, once the grid comes back on the genset would "blow". Long story short, the change over switch was wired incorrectly and the genset was feeding back to the grid. So they called the original installed to come "explain the wiring" - the guy reckoned "no, the wiring is correct, if it was in fact feeding back to the grid, it would kill someone and he'll prove it by touching the grid side, which shouldn't have power since it was load shedding." He got electrocuted on the spot. Sadly, his brother then took over the company, and apparently he knew even less than his now deceased brother. 

1 hour ago, SilverNodashi said:

told me a story

A real electrician knows that you test live wires by touching with the back of the hand... :-P

Edited June 17, 20188 yr by plonkster

11 hours ago, plonkster said:

A real electrician knows that you test live wires by touching with the back of the hand... :-P

By that standard, I have a BA, BSC and BCOM and a Masters in being a Electrician. 

26 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

By that standard, I have a BA, BSC and BCOM and a Masters in being a Electrician. 

...and discoloured hands.

12 hours ago, plonkster said:

A real electrician knows that you test live wires by touching with the back of the hand... :-P

eish. In school, a friend's dad used to lick his index finger and touch light bulb wires to check for electricity. I prefer to play it safe and always check with the volt meter, as well as a "Electric Voltage Tester". 

I live once

On 2018/06/18 at 9:22 AM, SilverNodashi said:

eish. In school, a friend's dad used to lick his index finger and touch light bulb wires to check for electricity. I prefer to play it safe and always check with the volt meter, as well as a "Electric Voltage Tester". 

I live once

You have some dodgy friends.

When work is being done on overhead lines and any municipal or Eskom line for that matter, there is always a lock out procedure in place. If a genset or battery inverter feeds back to the grid, it will blow or trip as it is not big enough to supply the grid. The one thing that will cause people to die on line work, and it happens more often than not, is negligence. Either by the team working on it, or by another team sent to rectify power outages and then not following lock out procedure.

A electrician was telling me they have to work on a line in / around properties. All is off, confirmed, yet still there is power on a cable. No amount of switches or calls gets that power off.

So they call in a Master Electrician with a very special suite on and he brings a saw with.

Allegedly it is something to see, when the power goes over the suite as he cuts that live cable.

How true that is, I don't know, but I like the the idea of "Basta with this. This cable is going to go off and it is going to go off now!" , as somewhere somehow sometime someone messed up.

1 minute ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

A electrician was telling me they have to work on a line in / around properties. All is off, confirmed, yet still there is power on a cable. No amount of switches or calls gets that power off.

So they call in a Master Electrician with a very special suite on and he brings a saw with.

Allegedly it is something to see, when the power goes over the suite as he cuts that live cable.

How true that is, I don't know, but I like the the idea of "Basta with this. This cable is going to go off and it is going to go off now!" , as somewhere somehow sometime someone messed up.

Wrong cable maybe?

2 minutes ago, anotherbrownbear said:

Wrong cable maybe?

Story is told that the cable was nowhere on any plan.

On 2018/06/18 at 9:22 AM, SilverNodashi said:

eish. In school, a friend's dad used to lick his index finger and touch light bulb wires to check for electricity. I prefer to play it safe and always check with the volt meter, as well as a "Electric Voltage Tester". 

I live once

My father used to do that rather often...

He would think nothing of grabbing both neutral and live wires, just after licking his fingers.

Do we have any further information on the NERSA regulations? Like the application process for over a mw? Trying to get hold of someone in NERSA is near impossible.

Edited May 22, 20197 yr by randomwalsh

Gents at Eskom you take the applicable line over from control center you then test the HV or LV line using an approved tester then you apply eqiupotential earthing at the work place.