ELECTRICITY
TIM COHEN: Eskom-minder Nersa short-circuits citizen generated power
I now live in the Karoo and generate my electricity with solar panels I bought connected to batteries I bought, utilising the sunlight that falls freely in my area
In April, the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) published for public comment draft rules for the registration of small-scale embedded generation. That, in English, is people who use solar panels. I now live in the Karoo and generate my electricity with solar panels I bought connected to batteries I bought, utilising the sunlight that falls freely in my area. So these regulations apply to me, and I am not a happy camper. The rules require anyone generating less than 1MW to register with Nersa, whether or not you link to a distribution system and whatever generation system you use. In other words, everything, including standby generators, is included. If you generate more than 1MW there is a much more complicated system of registration required. Nersa hasn’t explained what the process is intended to achieve, but the regulations themselves do, with careful reading. They are there to "establish a regulatory environment within which the regulator can effectively control, monitor, a...
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