Good news for people with solar power in South Africa

Eskom has extended its free registration period for households and businesses with hybrid and grid-tied rooftop solar power systems under 100kWp.

34 minutes ago, Demo said:

Good news for people with solar power in South Africa

Eskom has extended its free registration period for households and businesses with hybrid and grid-tied rooftop solar power systems under 100kWp.

They can't enforce anything, and that is quite evident. No one should waste their time registering. They can't even get people in the townships to move to smart meters.

10 hours ago, Denns said:

They can't enforce anything, and that is quite evident. No one should waste their time registering. They can't even get people in the townships to move to smart meters.

Agree!

AS far as this goes in interviews done on radio some clever guys were indicating that Eskom/munics can't make their own laws. It was pointed out the law is that the system only needs a valid COC.

Also as it stands a COC deems a system as safe so no need for more. Further the law states ESKOM has no right to disconnect for not complying to THEIR own laws and they may only disconnect for non payment provided you have a valid COC. The same holds true for munics. Refer to other interviews with energy consultant Chris Yelland and others.

We have seen how many back tracking has already taken place around this issue.

I stand to be corrected what I understood during the various interviews. OUTA has my support.

Solar Users shouldn’t register with Eskom or Municipalities – OUTA

• OUTA criticises Eskom and municipal threats over household solar registration as impractical, irrational and unfair.

• Shifting and unclear SSEG requirements are creating confusion, anxiety and project delays for homeowners and installers.

• OUTA maintains that safe, compliant solar installations behind the meter should not face coercive enforcement.

14 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

AS far as this goes in interviews done on radio some clever guys were indicating that Eskom/munics can't make their own laws. It was pointed out the law is that the system only needs a valid COC.

Also as it stands a COC deems a system as safe so no need for more. Further the law states ESKOM has no right to disconnect for not complying to THEIR own laws and they may only disconnect for non payment provided you have a valid COC. The same holds true for munics. Refer to other interviews with energy consultant Chris Yelland and others.

We have seen how many back tracking has already taken place around this issue.

I stand to be corrected what I understood during the various interviews. OUTA has my support.

Solar Users shouldn’t register with Eskom or Municipalities – OUTA

• OUTA criticises Eskom and municipal threats over household solar registration as impractical, irrational and unfair.

• Shifting and unclear SSEG requirements are creating confusion, anxiety and project delays for homeowners and installers.

• OUTA maintains that safe, compliant solar installations behind the meter should not face coercive enforcement.

It was not realistic to take them serious as the gvt couldn’t even enforce the etolls, smart meter rollout in the townships etc.

Not that I like or support the fact that they can’t enforce anything as it just leads to lawlessness which is evident with all the corruption in the country.

In 3 months Eskom have not had enough time to provide answers? From Jan to end of March.

Eskom keeps South Africa in the dark

Eskom has refused to provide an update regarding a possible extension of its free registration period for home and small business rooftop solar power systems, which is coming to an end early next week

Looks like the registration period has been extended:

https://share.google/BRl7L7TCBBD0egkCd

Thanks @frivan

So... Eksdom now requires:

• A Certificate of Compliance (CoC)

• An inverter test certificate

• A test report for the installation

They do not provide any information on what the required "test report" must contain/address, and who must write such a report... just another way for their "comrades" (read: power mafia) to make some money, I suppose... and where does one obtain an inverter test certificate?

More of the same incompetence that we've become so used to 🤐

53 minutes ago, HennieL said:

what the required "test report" must contain/address

As far as I know inverters will be tested against the South African Grid Code Requirements for Renewable Plant or NRS 097.

8 hours ago, HennieL said:

They do not provide any information on what the required "test report" must contain/address, and who must write such a report... just another way for their "comrades" (read: power mafia) to make some money, I suppose... and where does one obtain an inverter test certificate?

The inverter test certificate is routine and made available by the manufacturer. Somebody has to get it but they don't have to do any testing. The manufacturer should have had the system tested (probably in the EU) and there will be one certificate for all instances of that make and model. When my system was registered the guys who did it for me downloaded the certificate from .... somewhere, I'm guessing from Goodwe. There are a batch of tests that must be performed by a reputable laboratory under controlled conditions. You will not have to do the tests that produced the certificate - a laboratory did them already.

My system is registered with City Power as that's who supplies the area I live in. They did reserve the right to check for compliance, though unless you've been fiddling with things you shouldn't fiddle with you should be OK (because everything has been tested by a certified test facility). I mention all of this to give an idea of the sort of things that the certificate deals with and that the inspector may verify. What CP decided to test was that the inverter must NOT reconnect to the grid the moment that power is restored. It must wait. The wait period is randomised. The idea being that if an area loses power and the power is then restored, the inverters do not all connect and potentially start demanding power at the same time. So this requirement mitigates against surges at restoration time (it also means that if there is such a surge, your inverter is likely to be disconnected from the grid anyway). The certificate also tests things like islanding to make sure that the inverter doesn't try to export when the grid supply is down.

My test certificate specifies NRS 097-2-1:2017 Edition 2.1. The actual testing and certification for that make and model was done in Germany.

The test report for the installation is basically to check compliance with safety requirements. So you must have properly earthed solar panels, you must have a way to isolate the inverter from the rest of the house's wiring, you must have appropriate warning labels so that an electrician is warned that there are multiple power sources for the property. One of the installers who frequent this forum would be able to give you a fuller list of what is required. I imagine that there is a core set of requirements, and maybe local extras that the utility may impose.

8 hours ago, HennieL said:

They do not provide any information on what the required "test report" must contain/address, and who must write such a report... just another way for their "comrades" (read: power mafia) to make some money, I suppose... and where does one obtain an inverter test certificate?

You are free to choose anybody you like to produce the test report, though they should have the appropriate qualifications. One of the gripes OUTA had with the registration process was that it required an ENGINEER to sign off on the report. OUTA argue that an electrician should be able to sign off. I have no idea about the merits of OUTA's argument, but when I asked my regular electrician if he'd do this for me he said no, it's not the sort of work that he does and he thinks I should get somebody who knows what they are doing and what they are looking at (one of the reasons he's my go to guy is that he doesn't promise to be able to do any sort of work for all people). But still.... you can shop around for somebody to do this and you can make the choice on whatever basis you see fit.

All that said, the utility may do their own checks. In my case - City Power, not Eskom - an engineer from City Power came out and pointed to various things on the line drawing that is part of the report and said "please show me that". City Power didn't charge a cent for this, nor for the eventual registration. As you'd expect, I did have to pay the guys who represented me and produced the drawing and the report.

Another possible cost is if the engineer you appoint inspects and then says you need extra things to bring the system up to code. This will be for your account. In my case it was warning labels. I suspect the cost of making good some cowboy's short cuts is the source of some of these stories about it costing twenty grand to get registered.

My registration was handled by a company called Pure Energy Consulting. They did EVERYTHING. I signed a document appointing them to represent me in the matter of SSEG registration and then they took over, spoke to the various offices at City Power, did the line drawing, got the test certificate and everything else that City Power required. They also liaised with City Power to set the date and time for inspection, and were there for the inspection to answer any questions that City Power had.

Edited April 12Apr 12 by Bobster.

2 hours ago, Bobster. said:

One of the gripes OUTA had with the registration process was that it required an ENGINEER to sign off on the report. OUTA argue that an electrician should be able to sign off. I have no idea about the merits of OUTA's argument, but when I asked my regular electrician if he'd do this for me he said no, it's not the sort of work that he does and he thinks I should get somebody who knows what they are doing and what they are looking at

Thanks for your comments.

I'm aware that manufacturers supply Eksdom and certain municipalities with test certificates (used by e.g. City of Cape Town for their "approved inverter" list), but the "article" that @frivan referenced only refers to "an inverter test certificate" that must be supplied... omitting the part that such a certificate must be supplied by the manufacturer, leaving the whole requirement open for abuse by the "authorities" at a later stage.

I think that I have a good understanding of what should be incorporated in the "test report", but there is absolutely no guarantee that the "authorities" will be happy with what I (or an electrical engineer, for that matter) put in such a test report. Again, if requirements are clearly specified and stated upfront, there cannot be any grey areas or omitted measurements or whatever is expected to be in such a test report. Eksdom originally required that this document be produced by an ECSA registered professional - they have since changed their corporate mind, now being happy with a report from a department of labour registered electrician... no apparent requirement that such an electrician be competent with DC installations, etc. though. Again, my gripe is not with the change in who is authorised to sign such a report, it's with the lack of clarity on what is required to be in such a report... and with it being so vague, what stops the "authorities" from simply changing requirements again on the fly?

Lastly, a personal anecdote - my system's CoC was issued by an independent master electrician (registered with the department of labour), but he did not pick up that my installer failed to provide a neutral/earth bond that activated through a relay or contactor when grid power was lost (and opened again when grid power was restored), as stated in the Sunsynk installation manual supplied with my inverter. I only read this some time after the completion of the installation and issuing of the CoC, and had to explain this to the department of labour registered electrician that did the installation... makes me wonder if such a test report would have any real value...

Engineers aren't needed anymore:

https://share.google/F2VyW894qHTJpQBMx

See the commissioning report for the on site test requirements:

https://share.google/3WSD8IF4E3nF763TH

3 hours ago, frivan said:

Engineers aren't needed anymore:

https://share.google/F2VyW894qHTJpQBMx

Correct (for now) - and precisely as I stated above: "Eksdom originally required that this document be produced by an ECSA registered professional - they have since changed their corporate mind, now being happy with a report from a department of labour registered electrician.."

My concern is still that they have not published the requirements fully - the very next sentence in the document that you reference here state: "Eskom is working with key national organisations... to simplify and harmonise SSEG rules across the country." So, they are "still working ...to harmonise the rules..." Now they expect persons to apply for registration, without being transparent on what the rules are - and as we all know, once they have your registration then all new kinds of "rules" will follow - witness the continuous morphing of the BBBEEE "rules" since they were first published...

4 hours ago, frivan said:

See the commissioning report for the on site test requirements:

https://share.google/3WSD8IF4E3nF763TH

Yes, and from the intro to this document: "The documents below that comprise the resource pack should be seen as recommended templates which can be modified by municipalities."

Again, no clear-cut rules - merely "recommended templates" that's open for modification by any municipality - thus no uniformity of requirements and no "harmonised rules", and what's acceptable for City Power might be unacceptable for the municipality of Pofadder...

I rest my case...

Edited April 13Apr 13 by HennieL

8 hours ago, HennieL said:

no clear-cut rules

The issue is that Eskom is supposed to be only one of the generators and distributors in the country. And while they are against home solar, municipalities don't care. Municipalities are supposed to manage their electrical networks and collect revenue but most are like Stoffel the badger.

3 hours ago, frivan said:

The issue is that Eskom is supposed to be only one of the generators and distributors in the country. And while they are against home solar, municipalities don't care. Municipalities are supposed to manage their electrical networks and collect revenue but most are like Stoffel the badger.

They most definitely should not be the only suppliers. They failed dismally to supply power to the country and cost the country trillions during load shedding, and they still are. 500 billion in loans, and they are passing the bill of that onto people and companies, further putting a strain on the economy. And they have the gall to celebrate and act as if they did us a favour by ending loadshedding and paying out bonuses to each other. They are an utter embarrassment as what sort of company with a monopoly for decades goes broke? With a monopoly!

The sooner they disappear and get replaced by multiple suppliers of electricity, the better. They have held us hostage for too long. No one should have a monopoly over anything, and they proved why. I detest them so much that I went off-grid. They did not deserve another cent from me. And they are in this mess because they raised prices so much that Solar actually became a cheaper source of power than the grid. First, they told us to use less power. Then we did that. Now you get punished for it. I personally want them gone. They serve no purpose anymore, and private generation must take over as soon as possible.

Edited April 14Apr 14 by Denns