South Africa’s biggest city wants to use satellites and drones to find unregistered solar power users

Johannesburg and Durban’s municipalities are considering using satellite imagery to detect unregistered solar power systems among their residents and businesses.

The two metros have told MyBroadband that they are exploring the technology as part of their broader strategies to get customers to register their small-scale embedded generation (SSEG).

Solar power and backup systems in South Africa must meet specific criteria to connect to the grid. The precise requirements vary depending on the electricity distributor.

Eskom recently revealed that it was using satellite photos to detect properties among its direct customers which could have rooftop solar power systems not registered in its SSEG programme.

While the vast majority of electricity used in South Africa comes from Eskom power stations, most of this is distributed through municipalities.

Eskom is only targeting households and businesses connected through its distribution business — not those using municipalities as distributors.

MyBroadband asked the country’s five biggest metros by population whether they were also employing satellites in their SSEG registration enforcement.

Johannesburg’s electricity utility, City Power, told MyBroadband that registration of grid-tied systems in its jurisdiction was still voluntary.

However, the utility said it was exploring the potential use of advanced technologies, such as satellite photos and drone surveillance, for future audits.

“City Power is piloting a geo-satellite imagery mapping system to identify and compare registered and unregistered customers in our database,” it said. “The system is currently in the development phase.”

Durban’s City of Ethekwini metro told MyBroadband it does not yet have a comprehensive program to detect unregistered solar power systems.

However, it plans to engage the city’s geographic information system department to expand its survey capabilities and help identify properties with unregistered systems.

“This initiative will assist in reaching out to those residents and guiding them through the registration process,” the municipality said.

Cape Town remains secretive

The City of Cape Town, South Africa’s second-largest metro, would neither confirm nor deny whether it was using satellite imagery in its registration efforts due to “compliance and safety considerations”.

The city said it primarily relied on public awareness campaigns to promote the importance of safe and legal SSEG systems.

“In accordance with our bylaws, all SSEG systems must be authorised by the City of Cape Town,” the metro said.

Cape Town has the most advanced SSEG ecosystem of South Africa’s major metros. It is also the only city paying households and businesses cash for excess solar generation.

Tshwane was less secretive. It told MyBroadband it did not use satellite imagery or any novel techniques for detecting unregistered solar systems.

“The city uses awareness campaigns to encourage prosumers to register embedded generation,” it stated. “The city has also engaged in public consultation on the embedded generation policy.”

Tshwane remains far behind Cape Town when it comes to SSEG policies. For example, Tshwane’s council only recently approved its embedded generation and electricity wheeling policies.

MyBroadband also asked the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro whether it would tap into satellite technology for its registration efforts, but the municipality did not provide feedback by the time of publication.

Companies like Esri South Africa have developed advanced tools for scanning large maps to automatically flag potential sites based on visual indicators of rooftop solar panels.

The company recently said that one of its AI-based analyses in an unnamed metro in South Africa had identified 331 solar panel arrays, of which just 16 were registered.