Langeberg municipality introduce new requirements with increased capacity of alternative electrical generation

Langeberg Municipal council approved the Guidelines for Small Scale Embedded Generation in Feb 2018 (A3564). Since then, there has been various developments and advancements in the Alternative Energy (AE) industry and technology. Government supports AE initiatives and there has been a steady increase in the uptake of AE in the Country and specifically also in the Langeberg Municipality. The current energy crisis and persistent load shedding are amongst the drivers for the AE uptake.

The evolving AE industry and technology created the need for Langeberg Municipality to revise the existing guidelines and introduce new requirements for Alternative Electrical Generation.

The evolving AE industry and technology created the need for Langeberg Municipality to revise the existing guidelines and introduce new requirements for Alternative Electrical Generation.

The evolving AE industry and technology created the need for Langeberg Municipality to revise the existing guidelines and introduce new requirements for Alternative Electrical Generation.

NEW REQUIREMENTS

The proposed new requirements are aligned with SALGA guidelines as well as requirements / trends from other Municipalities in the Western Cape.

A major change from the previous guidelines to the new Requirements is the allowed / authorized capacity of the Alternative Energy (AE) system. Previously this was limited to 40% of the size of the connection for dedicated supplies and 25% for shared supplies (a dedicated supply is dedicated to only 1 customer while a shared supply is shared by other customers.) This inherently limited the feed-in capacity of the customer.

The proposed new requirements make provision for the customer to install an AE system of up to 100% of the size of their connection while limiting the feed-in capacity to 40% for dedicated and 25% for shared feeders. All customers are still required to remain a net consumer of energy over a 12-month rolling period. For hybrid systems where Batteries could be charged from the Municipal network, the charging capacity is also limited to 40% and 25% respectively.

The other requirements are aligned with National standards and Regulations pertaining to Alternative Electrical Generation and Electricity wiring. pdfThe new requirements is attached as Annexure A. (369 KB)