Solar system cops prowling

CITY POWER: REGISTRATION NOT BEING ENFORCED YET BUT RECORDING SITE LOCATIONS UNDERWAY

- Marizka Coetzer

There is still uncertainty surrounding registration of home solar systems, with either Eskom or municipalities, as Johannesburg's City Power confirms its meter readers are scouting for the locations of such systems.

Randpark residents said this week that meter readers had been asking about solar power systems and had been seen photographing rooftop solar panels on houses.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said City Power was in the process of registering small-scale embedded generation systems such as rooftop solar photovoltaic installations.

"While registration is not yet being enforced, customers are strongly encouraged to begin the process voluntarily to ensure compliance with National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) regulations," he said.

Mangena said meter readers visiting households were conducting standard meter audits that may include noting the presence of rooftop solar panels or related infrastructure.

"This is part of routine data collection," he said.

Mangena said City Power was developing measures to identify unregistered systems in the future, including the possible use of satellite and drone-based detection, he said.

"There is currently no official or forced registration drive underway," he said.

Mangena said Nersa's licensing threshold was 100kVA, which means systems below this capacity are exempt from requiring a generation licence.

However, this does not exempt them from the obligation to register with the distributor, in this case, City Power.