Last year, the City of Cape Town announced that residents would have to register their rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) installations with the city, or risk being hit with a fine.

That was met with widespread resistance and derision, but the City has stuck to its guns and the clock has been ticking.

As of today (Tuesday, May 28), you now have just three days left to register, “or be disconnected from the city’s electricity grid, a service for which they will then have to pay via a disconnection fine”.

Business Insider SA reports:

Registration is mandatory for all small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) installations with a generation capacity smaller than 1 Mega Volt Amp (MVA), which covers the vast majority of off-grid solar solutions for residential homes and some small offices.

The City says registration is required for reasons that include the safety of its staff, who risk electrocution if they work on a system they believe safely offline while an unregistered home installation is feeding power back into the grid.

Those who don’t register could be cut off from the Eskom grid, which comes with a whopping R6 426 disconnection fee.

Sorry that you’ve already forked out a fortune to get ‘off the grid’, pal.

The City will then not reconnect residents until their solar PV plant is registered and complies with safety standards, as well as the disconnection fee being paid.

The following must be registered:

• Grid-tied with feed in (including hybrid) – where excess electricity is fed back onto the grid.
• Grid-tied with reverse power flow blocking – when the output is connected to the household wiring and is connected to the City’s grid through the meter.
• Grid-tied inverters which can operate in “islanded mode”  – used during general power outages.
• Off-grid SSEG – not electrically connected to the electricity grid in any way.

If you prefer your instructions in video form, the City put this together back in February:

There are also a number of links provided to find out more…

• Going solar in the home
• Going solar in the workplace
• Apply for authorisation for off-grid or standalone small-scale embedded generation (SSEG)

The clock is ticking, so best you get cracking.

While we’re on the topic, you might want to watch one of the stories from this past Sunday’s Carte Blanche episode:

Here’s the write-up:

Are you planning to combat load-shedding with an off-the-grid solution of solar panels and deep-cycle batteries? Do you think you’ve spotted a bargain for this potentially pricey set-up? Beware of stepping into the clutches of a new criminal network as thieves target mobile network towers for their batteries.

Carte Blanche takes to the air in a high-stakes chase with network providers to run down these brazen thieves as we investigate the crime that is getting stolen goods into the homes of unsuspecting consumers.

Classic Carte Blanche stuff  – off we go:

[sources:businsider&carteblanche]