Page 18 - EngineerIT Nov-Dec 2025
P. 18
ENERGY
THE SSEG SAFETY GAP:
Why municipalities need clarity
and standards must catch up
By Justin Render
mall-scale embedded generation generation, integration and synchronisation of embedded generation.
is now part of South Africa’s The companion document, SANS 10142-1-2:2021, was meant to address this
Sdaily energy reality. Rooftops, gap but was withdrawn in 2022 and hasn’t been reinstated.
small businesses and industrial parks
are installing systems at a rate that That leaves municipalities in a bit of a tricky position. The OHS Act places
would have been unthinkable five years the responsibility for safe connection squarely on the licensed electricity
ago. The AMEU’s new Position Paper on distributor. A CoC cannot stand alone when the standard required to
safety compliance for LV SSEG* arrives support it is incomplete.
at a time when this rapid growth is
happening in a regulatory environment Experts I have consulted suggest that this is not an abstract regulatory issue,
still trying to define itself. but something that affects everyday life in South Africa. If the standards are
incomplete, the risk doesn’t disappear. It shifts onto municipal engineers,
The central concern is that the technicians and ultimately the public. You still have to decide whether a
SSEG market is accelerating faster system is safe to connect, and without the necessary test report, you rely
than the standards designed to heavily on solid engineering judgement and verifiable documentation.
ensure installations are safe. The
aforementioned Position Paper points The Position Paper makes the same point: competency matters. Registered
to a key gap: the lack of an approved practitioners are currently unable to sign a fully compliant CoC for SSEG
test report within SANS 10142-1 for the systems because the required test report just doesn’t exist yet.
18 | EngineerIT November/December 2025
