A race to get off the grid in East London has prompted Buffalo City Metro (BCM) to warn cowboy electricians and DIY amateurs from connecting green energy systems to the metro grid without permission.
Municipal manager Andile Fani said in a notice this month that property owners will be held liable if one of his electricians is electrocuted.
He told electricians and suppliers of green energy products to comply with bylaws and national legislation.
The laws stipulate that green energy plans have to be shown, approved and the work done by a registered electrician. Afterwards it has to be inspected and certified to be legally compliant.
BCM revenue protection officer Martin van Jaarsveld said the problem was that if BCM turned off a street or neighbourhood and their electrician was unaware of one or more renewable energy systems illegally feeding into the grid, the electrician would unknowingly be working on a system which was still live.
Gareth Matthew, owner of SolarTech Eastern Cape, said: “If a guy [electrician] doesn’t connect the [green energy] system properly and there is a BCM guy with his hand in a transformer, you will belt him. You can fry someone.”
Van Jaarsveld said they also needed to monitor the quality of the equipment used by renewable installers to see if they were up to BCM specifications.
BCM was required by Nersa to build a database of renewable energy systems operating in the municipality.
Eskom-trained green electrical engineer, Bertie le Roux, said at least one person had managed to run green energy through a BCM metre “backwards”, causing the silver metre wheel to spin in reverse and usage and bills to drop or even reflect a credit. Le Roux said this was dangerous and illegal.
He warned that shoddy electrical switch work for a grid-tied system, where owners can switch between BCM power or their own power source, could see power leaking onto BCM’s grid.
General manager of Ikhwezi Solar Carl Müller said: “It is difficult to stop DIY specialists. However, a qualified electrician must sign off the work. Ikhwezi’s aim is to convince Nersa to have a standard qualification for electricians because PV [photo-voltaic] is quite specialised, and dangerous if not installed properly.”
Matthew, of SolarTech Eastern Cape, said: “There are some guys who are connecting and feeding in. It’s technically illegal. You do get cowboys, but the technology has been around in the US and Germany for decades. The system is safe and there is already a national SA standard specification for it.”
He felt Fani’s notice was “a little bit of a scare tactic”.
Border-Kei Chamber of Business director Les Holbrook said: “There is a problem with service providers who sell solutions and then disclaim themselves from the legal requirements.”
Holbrook said: “The rush [to install renewable systems) quite simply comes from the actual load-shedding. Homeowners get a bit miffed when they get home and there’s no electricity.”
“Residents must not just take matters into their own hands. It is untenable for every second homeowner to put a photo-voltaic or solar system on their roof and connect these to the grid.
“No cowboys must be allowed, but BCM must play their part by not dragging their feet.”