I was sooo glad when that last one was retracted. It had requirements for fireman’s switches on the outside perimeter of the property and for all the conduit to be steel. The kind of thing that would have severely increase the cost of a residential solar installation. I’ve always been the kind of guy who figures 8 out of 10 is fine, as long as the 2 points you dropped are unlikely to kill anyone.
This reminds me of my distant past on the workbench. I think I can name the company - Television And Electrical Distributors, AKA Tedelex.
Now when the company was founded with that name somebody said to the owner “But there is no Television in South Africa”. He said “not yet, but there will be, and where there is I will have the company already named.”
Anyway, as the country was getting ready for the dreaded inevitable, a draft set of regulations were published which effectively required that a television set and it’s aerial had to be INSTALLED with lots of conduit and multiple earth points and a small lightning conductor within a certain distance of the aerial. There were other stipulations. It was all ugly and over the top and made the purchase of a TV set less easy and more expensive, because you couldn’t just buy it in a shop and plug it in, it had to be INSTALLED. The companies in this fledgling business were up in arms but Government paid them no heed.
Then the first TV set in the country was installed. Tedelex (who had the word “television” in their name, and who also had the franchise for Sony TVs, then regarded as the bees knees) got the honour of installing a set at the home of the then Minister of Posts and Telecommunications.
The owner took the installation team aside and said “do it EXACTLY according to regulations”.
They did. The Minister arrives home with loads of people from the press, takes one look at all the paraphenalia and took the technician aside and asked “what exactly is THIS?”
The technician kept a straight face and said “well, Sir, that’s a lighting conductor as required by 13.3 paragraph B. These earthing points that you can see here are for compliance with paragrah D of the same regulation. Now as for…” then the Minister told him to shut up.
The next week simplified regulations were published, and a fresh install was done at the Minister’s house. But not by Tedelex.
OK… so all my paperwork is in. I am going to post redacted copies (no company names or branding, no contact details, no meter numbers etc) to give an idea of what is required.
First are the application form (as completed thus far for submission to the city) and the compliance certificate for the inverter (this is required).
APPLICATION FOR INVERTER BASED GRID TIED PHOTOVOLTAIC INSTALLATION FORM redacted (3).pdf (2.0 MB)
GW_ES (14A)_Certificate NRS097-2-1.pdf (221.7 KB)
Now the line drawing, the commissioning report (a Pr Eng is required to sign off on this), and a document describing how the system will be operated in the long run.
This is not all of it. I have not uploaded the COC. I have not uploaded the letter I signed to appoint a proxy to engage with the City on my behalf.
PHOTOVOLTAIC INSTALLATION COMMISSIONING REPORT FORM redacted.pdf (598.4 KB)
OPERATION PHILOSOPHY AND MAINTENANCE PROCEDURE FOR HYBRID SOLAR SYSTEM.pdf (104.9 KB)
SLD redacted.pdf (436.2 KB)
Note : the registration is for a specific inverter at a specific location (GPS coordinates)
being naturally curious I emailed citypower to enquire about the process of registering a solar installation.
Enquiry mail sent Friday (2Feb) mid-morning.
Reply received Tuesday (6Feb) 09:00.
Please complete the attached SSEG application forms and send back:
1.Single Line Diagram (SLD)
2.Inverter Datasheet
3.Inverter NRS097-2-1 Certificate
4. Utility Bill
5. CoCIndicate if the installation is completed or you need pre-approval.
Kindly note we are not authorized to create a notification number for our customers ,you are therefore required to walk in CoJ customer service center, should you be walking on behalf of the property owner the following will be needed:
- Fill in the electricity supply form as attached
- Authorization letter indicating you are representing your client
- Certified ID copy of yourself and your client
Forms as received (mods welcome to nuke if the server storage space is becoming skraps)
Application for Electricity supply.pdf (381.4 KB)
APPLICATION FOR INVERTER BASED GRID TIED PHOTOVOLTAIC INSTALLATION FORM.pdf (609.8 KB)
CP_TSGUID__012_GUIDELINES FOR GENERAL PHOTHOVOLTAIC INSTALLATIONS.pdf (595.4 KB)
PHOTOVOLTAIC INSTALLATION COMMISSIONING REPORT FORM.pdf (126.9 KB)
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OK. So now, according to the boffins, my system is 100% compliant and they are going to put some pressure on City Power. The last piece fell into place with the application of some labels, like this one affixed to the cover over the meter and the municipal breaker.
Others were placed on the main DB (Warning! This equipment is supplied by more than one source.), below the main breaker on the DB (Point of utility connection) and on the AC DB for the inverter under the change over switch (Point of Generator Connection).
Now we wait for City Power to test. Apparently this includes earthing, checking for anti-islanding, and timing how long the inverter takes to reconnect on restoration of grid supply (this should not be instantaneous).
±66 seconds to sync again after Eskom came back.
±600 seconds before it is operating again at “full power”.
I knew there was a delay in reconnecting, but I’ve never sat there going “one elephant two elephant…”
So my date with destiny is set for Wednesday 6th of March.
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What is the reason for the delay? And why those lengths?
I assume those are for basic grid management. If there are just one or two inverters on a grid, it is not an issue. But what happens when the majority of houses on a particular grid have solar?
Turn on power to the segment, and you get a large surge followed by a sudden cut-off = impossible to synchronise. You also don’t want sudden steps as all inverters ramp up to max production immediately - so you need a slow ramp up from each inverter so that grid feed can be easily balanced (you must have exactly as much production on a grid as consumption, or something will break - if production in one area increases, production in another must decrease).
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This is quite interesting - if non-technical me is understanding properly. That means that all this feeding back of power has to be managed.
I take it what you’re referring to here is a situation where the inverters collectively might be feeding back more than there is demand for - and that’s a no-no. Does this explain that limits that COCT have that for a one phase supply, your inverter can only put so much back into the grid at any given time?
This explains why the City is starting to get more rigorous about enforcing regulations that go back at least 5 years as far as I can tell. When I got my system 4 3/4 years ago it was almost a novelty. Certainly the only such in the street, and one of about four in the suburb. This morning I took the dog for a walk and now you see solar panels all over the place - and there has been a huge increase in the last 18 to 24 months. So now all of this stuff the regulations are concerned with is not theoretical anymore, it is actual.
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Another interesting thing which was actually in NRS097-2-1 in 2017, but no longer in 2024, is the requirement for a random reconnect.
In 2017 it said:
4.2.4.2.1 Non-controllable generators may connect randomly within the 1 minute to 10 minute period after voltage and frequency recovery (period includes the 60 s to confirm recovery). The delay for non-controllable generators will each be set at a random value by the manufacturer, with the option of changing this to a utility provided setting. The random value shall be selected so that no more than 2 % of generators from any specific manufacturer will reconnect within 10s of each other.
This part is completely missing in the 2024 version.
OK… so the City Power engineers were just here (in a hybrid vehicle).
They require a representative from the installer to be present at inspection time. The engineer who did all the work until now may be present, but doesn’t have to be
As far as I could see and ask whilst they were busy, they checked
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That the inverter is as described on the documentation the engineer submitted. This includes the serial number. They had already checked that the inverter (as described) was on the approved list
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That all the necessary safety labels were in place. On the outside box that houses the main breaker, on the main DB, on any sub DBs for the PV system. I chatted to them about this. They said that there have been cases of City Power electricians thinking the house was dead because they had thrown the main breaker outside on the street, then getting a surprise. So the labels alert any electrician to the presence of a second power source.
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They had the installer rep demonstrate that the inverter is connected as described in the line drawing. He didn’t have to open up the whole thing and take them up into the roof, he did have to answer any questions they asked him: “Please show us [whatever]”
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They checked the functioning of a three way breaker that was installed so that the house can be suppplied by the PV system, by the grid, or get no supply at all.
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They measured the reconnect time already discussed.
They will now take the test results back to their office. They don’t liaise with me or with the installer, they deal with the engineer. They said that they were happy with what they had seen but pointed out to me that the actual certificate was not yet issued, and the system is not deemed registered until the certificate is issued.
They also told me I shouldn’t change anything because any certificate that will be issued will be for the system as tested.
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One more thing. There was no discussion about tariffs. They didn’t ask if I was on pre-paid (though this is recorded on my account, and they probably saw the CIU mounted on the wall right next to the inverter). They didn’t tell me “oh, you have to switch to such-and-such a tariff”. They said NOTHING about tariffs. This was a technical visit.
The guy who came out was just doing the footwork. I must say that he’s actually been quite diligent. Today he was out of town, but still kept in touch with me, the installer and the City’s engineer, and kept everybody on the same page.
But the drawings and some other documents were signed off by a superior who has the letters PR Eng after his name.
Good to know. Thanks for the update 
So if your inverter fails and you replace it you have to do the whole thing again?
(checking of serial number and it being on docs)
Or do you just inform what happened and then the new serial no?