Cape Town - The energy crisis has forced many people into looking at alternative sources of light, heat and power – including candles, gas, generators and inverters.
The City has authorised more than 5 700 grid- and off-grid systems to date amid an enormous spike in solar PV applications since the worsening Eskom load shedding.
However, the safe and legal installation of Small-Scale Embedded Generation (SSEG) systems, including storage devices for private usage, remains a concern.
The City has now issued a list of approved safe and legal inverters on its website.
From October all SSEG systems will need a City-approved inverter and professional sign-off as safe and legal to reduce the risk of sub-standard, incorrectly wired solar PV inverters and batteries on the grid.
This is in line with national legislation and regulations requiring authorisation of all power-generating systems connected to the electricity supply.
Mayco member for energy Beverley van Reenen said authorisation requirements must be adhered to, but pointed out that this applied to solar PV and battery systems connected into the wiring of the building.
“It doesn’t apply to back-up inverters that plug into wall sockets, as those are regarded as electrical appliances.”
Van Reenen said the City would be speeding up the application process and that the database was meticulously checked to ensure that customers and installers were using quality equipment for safe and legal systems.
She said this was because there were too many wiring configurations, many of which were unsafe and illegal, and these were a leading cause of extended power outages in neighbourhoods when the power returned after load shedding. “Unsafe systems can also increase the chance of fires or electrocution for building occupants.”
Fidelity Services Group spokesperson Charnel Hattingh said fire prevention must be kept top of mind at all times, inside and outside of the load shedding schedule.
“It is understandable that alternative power sources have become part of life. However, within our own experience and that of the various municipal emergency services, candles, generators, inverters, gas sources and even solar panels can cause a fire.”
Hattingh said consumers also need to be aware that fires involving lithium batteries require very specific firefighting methods because when these batteries fail or overheat, they release flammable, toxic gases that can spark a fast-spreading fire that is extremely difficult to extinguish.
For list of approved inverters see Approved inverter and equipment ito NRS 097-2-1 (2023-07-26).xlsx - https://resource.capetown.gov.za/documentcentre/Documents/Forms,%20notices,%20tariffs%20and%20lists/Approved%20Photovoltaic%20(PV)%20Inverter%20List.pdf