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- From 1 October, households and businesses in Cape Town applying to use grid-tied inverters need to ensure they are on an approved list.
- Plug-in devices such as trolley inverters do not need to be authorised, nor be on the City-approved inverter list.
- The City says the change is warranted due to fly-by-night operators offering systems of inferior quality that cause prolonged outages.
- For climate change news and analysis, go to News24 Climate Future.
From 1 October, households and businesses applying for authorisation of their grid-tied solar PV and battery systems will need to ensure they use inverters that are approved by the City of Cape Town. Failing that, they will not be registered with the City.
The City said the change is warranted due to fly-by-night operators offering systems of "inferior quality" or which are not wired correctly. They cause prolonged outages after load shedding.
"Eskom's load shedding has caused a huge increase in people installing solar PV and battery systems. To ensure safety and to protect the electrical grids, there is a national requirement that solar systems must be authorised," the City said in a statement issued earlier in September.
"From 1 October, only systems using City-approved inverters with professional sign-off will be authorised," said the City's mayoral committee member for energy, and councillor Beverley van Reenen.
The rule will apply to solar PV and battery systems that are connected to the wiring of a building, or if one is also relying on an inverter - without solar panels - that are wired to a distribution board.
But it does not apply to trolley inverters that plug into wall sockets because these are considered appliances.
READ | Charging inverters during peak could push up demand by one stage of load shedding: Eskom
The City said that this change would also shorten the processing time for the registration of solar PV systems. "The volumes of applications and the fact that there are so many different types of systems have caused delays in the authorisation process," the City explained.
It added:
To shorten the authorisation approval period, the City is also appointing more staff to process applications and is also developing an online applications portal.
Applications prior to October will be processed - but priority will be given to grid-tied systems using City-approved inverters, the City added.
The approved list of inverters can be found here.
