Big warning for solar power users in South Africa

Eskom says that all grid-tied solar power systems connected to its network that are not registered with the power utility are “illegal”, even if they are not feeding electricity back into the grid.

In addition, the power utility regards the typical certificate of compliance (CoC) that qualified electricians often issue to declare a solar power installation safe and compliant as insufficient.

MyBroadband has learnt that Eskom staff have been visiting its direct customers, demanding that those with grid-tied solar power install additional equipment and obtain new approvals to make their systems compliant.

A MyBroadband forum member recently informed us of the new requirements after his neighbourhood was invited to a “town hall”-style meeting hosted by Eskom under the guise of explaining small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) rules.

Eskom duly informed the community members that all their solar installations were “illegal” because they were not registered with the utility, even if they were not feeding electricity back into the grid.

“It was mentioned on multiple occasions that connecting a power plant to the national grid is a violation of the law, irrespective of whether you have configured it to feed back or not,” the forum member explained.

“Their point is it is capable of feeding into the grid, and so needs to comply with their standards.”

The forum member provided an e-mail from the Eskom customer relations officer who hosted the meeting.

The officer reiterated that anyone pulling Eskom electricity through their solar power systems had an “unsafe” and illegal connection if it was not registered with Eskom.

The employee requested that the community members fill out the Eskom Application Form for SSEG and explained they would be contacted one-on-one for a quote to get their system compliant.

The officer also explained that applicants would only be charged a deposit for the new bidirectional meter and conversion fee to migrate them to the new Homeflex time-of-use tariff, which is now mandatory for all Eskom Direct grid-tied customers.

“We shall fit you with a new smart meter, which has the additional benefit of providing at least ten amps supply during load-shedding at stages one to four, and credit you with units generated from your generator,” the staff member said.

Tens of thousands of rand to “legalise” systems

Eskom liaised with the community’s solar power users one-on-one and quoted them varying charges to register their systems based on their individual circumstances.

The MyBroadband forum customer was quoted R27,000 to make his system compliant with Eskom’s requirements, while a neighbour had to pay R50,000.

“In my case, the addendum CoC for the solar plant was a single page, which is not compliant [with Eskom’s criteria] and so had to be re-done,” the forum member explained.

“There are strict guidelines on what needs to go into that CoC, and mine has gone from a one-pager to a small booklet.”

The forum member was also required to get a structural engineer to confirm the roof structure was strong enough and suitable to carry his solar panels.

In addition, Eskom requires that customers foot the bill for providing a point after the Eskom meter to isolate the connection that is accessible by Eskom.

That must be within two meters from the Eskom meter but not fixed to the Eskom structure.

In addition, customers must provide a Single Line Diagram inside the kiosk of the isolator.

If there is no isolator, customers must install a dead grid safety lock or an electromechanical switch with a coil energised from the utility side.

Once all these requirements are met, the customer must obtain an embedded generation installation compliance test report from an electrician registered with the Electrical Contractors Association of South Africa.

Many customers likely impacted

MyBroadband asked Eskom about these additional requirements, but it did not immediately respond to our requests for feedback.

Eskom first published its application for the connection of a small-scale embedded generator form in April 2021.

That means numerous customers likely do not meet Eskom’s requirements and will now need to fork out tens of thousands of rand to get their systems compliant, regardless of whether they have a CoC for the system.

The alternative option — which could turn out cheaper for some customers — is to upgrade their inverters, batteries, and panels or to integrate a backup fuel generator for periods of inclement weather.

Doing so would enable them to sever their Eskom grid connection entirely, eliminating the need to have a registered SSEG installation.