The management committee of the NRSASA has issued the following recommendation:

Until such time as SANS 10142-Parts 3 (The Wiring of Premises – Embedded Generators) and Part 4 (The Wiring of Premises –Direct Current and Photovoltaic) are duly published by the SABS (which is expected to be around December 2024), The Management Committee of The NRS Association of SA recommends, as an interim measure, that all embedded generation systems or infrastructure with generation capacity smaller or less than 1 MVA (1000 kVA) [and especially those installed on to an Eskom or a municipality’s Transmission (Tx) or Distribution(Dx) grid] must be signed off on commissioning by the applicable Engineering Council of South Africa (“ECSA”) duly registered Professional Engineer, (Pr Eng) or Professional Technologist (Engineering), (Pr Tech(Eng)) as complying with, as a minimum, the said generation system and/or facility’s minimum design and safety requirements.  

Eskom and/or municipalities can also opt to come up with alternative requirements or arrangements to suit their own specific needs and circumstances, although this is not encouraged. It is encouraged that such alternative requirements or arrangements must be aligned, as a minimum, to the aforementioned requirements including the sign off by a relevant ECSA duly registered Pr Eng or Pr Tech (Eng).

The following is an example of a refinement of the above recommended requirements that is currently being considered by a major metropolitan municipality: In the case of residential installations less than 12 kW, and limited to single phase systems, an industrial-accredited installer with a PV Green Card certificate (or an alternative acceptable equivalent certification) and who is a registered installation electrician or master installation electrician can sign off the installation. All other SSEG systems greater than 12kW/single phase must be signed off by a relevant ECSA duly registered Pr Eng or Pr Tech (Eng). Although the metropolitan municipality accepts the PV Green Card certificate (or acceptable equivalent certification) holders report as a good industry as-built commissioning report, it must not be viewed as an endorsement of the PV Green Card certificate (or an alternative acceptable equivalent certification) by the said metropolitan municipality.

 Contact NRSASA   NaickeJS@eskom.co.za