January 16, 20206 yr Hi everyone, our municipality apparently requires architectural drawings of my house plan and the positioning of the PV panels on the roof, together with an engineer to sign off that the roof structure is sufficient to place 6x330 watt panels on our roof, before I am authorized to use solar panels? Each panel weighs 23.2 kgs for goodness sake!! My system is a simple back-up system with solar to charge my batteries. We are not off-grid! Can anyone confirm that such authorization is the standard requirement of municipalities? Thank you Edited January 16, 20206 yr by Bushtracker Each panel
January 16, 20206 yr Municipalities will each have their own regulations. There is no standard. In Randburg (part of the greater City of Johannesburg) the municipality knows I have solar but they haven't asked for any drawings nor certification. I also didn't advise them I was putting in a solar system
January 16, 20206 yr The City of Cape Town regulations are as follows: Quote Roof top installations No building plans are required to be submitted provided the panel(s) in its installed position does not project more than 1,5 meters, measured perpendicularly, above the roof and/or not more than 600mm above the highest point of the roof. Full building plans, including an engineer’s endorsement, are required if the panel(s) in its installed position; - Project more than 1,5 meters in its installed position measured perpendicularly, above the roof and/or; - Projects more than 600mm above the highest point of the roof. A relaxation in terms of the Zoning Scheme Regulations is also required under either one or both of the above circumstances. Maybe there is a similar exemption in your municipal regulations?
January 16, 20206 yr 6 hours ago, Bushtracker said: Each panel weighs 23.2 kgs for goodness sake!! The issue isn't the weight. It's the lift. If the wind grabs a hold of it... will the existing roof trusses be able to hold it down? 3 hours ago, NigelL said: No building plans are required to be submitted provided the panel(s) in its installed position does not project more than 1,5 meters, measured perpendicularly, above the roof and/or not more than 600mm above the highest point of the roof. If the PV-modules sit in their usual location about a hand width above the tile, you are not messing with the aerodynamics, and hence the bylaws in Cape Town requires no sign-off for that. Check your own regulations to see if there is a similar exemption.
January 16, 20206 yr Author Thank you for your responses guys, I will have to find out from our council and hope I don't wake up the bear!
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.