GEORGE NEWS - George Municipality's new requirement for consumers to submit a building plan when installing solar, is for safety's sake and it explains the steps to switch-on.

• Find an accredited, professional service provider who is registered as an electrical contractor with the Department of Employment and Labour. 

This will confirm that the company or individual is able to issue a valid certificate of compliance (CoC) after installation. Also verify if the company has an Engineering Council of South Africa registered professional who will sign off the commissioning and ensure that the installation complies with national regulations.

• Customers can use the online web-based platform to register via https://apply.sseg.org.za/. Select *George Municipality* and then begin registration. It is recommended that the customer let their installer fill in the application form as it contains some technical questions.

• Documents required for the online application: The customer’s ID copy, a preliminary schematic diagram and the inverter’s datasheet/model number.

• The municipality will assess the impact on the electricity grid and inform the applicant and service provider if they can proceed with installation.

• The applicant must inform the municipality once installation has been completed, after which a municipal technician will inspect the installation and request a copy of the CoC from the installer.

• Any additions or alterations to an existing SSEG (small scale embedded generation) system must follow the same procedure as above.

• Parallel to this, the customer must apply for building plans to the Building Control Department. For smaller solar installations, this is classified as minor building works. This is done on the municipal collaborator portal: https://westerncape.collaboratoronline.com. This is a new requirement, introduced by Building Control, effective from the 1stJuly 2024.

• The Electrotechnical Department can issue a Permission to Install letter once the grid requirements of the proposed solar installation are met, with a condition that the customer has to apply for building plans within 3 months.

• After installation, the installer should go back to the online portal to upload a CoC, an as built diagram and get the Ecsa registered professional to fill in and sign the commissioning report.

• The customer then has to sign the supplemental contract for embedded generation.

• Once all of that is done, the Electrotechnical department will issue a Permission to Generate letter, which wraps up the process.

Click below to read a related article:

Building plan needed for solar installation

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