Electro-Spark installs solar and battery backup on common property for body corporates, sectional title schemes and estates in Cape Town. Gates, booster pumps, lighting, security and, where needed, lifts go on a backup board, and trustees receive the technical description and itemised quote that the owners' approval process requires.
Which common property loads should go on solar?
The loads residents notice the moment they stop. A complex's common supply usually runs a short list of them: the entrance gate and boom, booster pumps that keep water pressure up in the upper units, sump or borehole pumps, passage and perimeter lighting, the electric fence, CCTV and intercom, and in taller buildings, the lift.
Most of these draw modest power but matter a great deal in an outage. Putting them on a backup board with a battery, and adding panels to offset the daytime load, keeps the complex working and reduces the common electricity account that every owner pays through the levy.
The common supply has its own meter and account, which makes sizing simpler than in a house. Twelve months of those accounts show what the common property uses, and most of it (pumps, gates, security) runs around the clock, so a share of the daytime load can come straight from the panels while the battery covers the night. We walk the site with the trustees or managing agent to list what is on the common supply before anything is designed.
Gate motors often have their own small battery already. They still need a mains supply to recharge, which is why they fail in long outages. On the backup board they keep working.
Can a lift run on backup power?
It can, but it needs a three-phase inverter large enough for the lift's start-up surge, and the lift maintenance company has to be involved. A lift motor draws a high current when it starts, usually on a three-phase supply, and it is often the largest single load in the building. The lift controller also has its own requirements for how it behaves when power is lost and restored.
For some buildings the sensible answer is a smaller system that brings the lift to a floor and opens its doors when the power fails, rather than keeping it running.
Who has to approve solar on common property?
In a sectional title scheme, the owners do. A trustee decision alone is not enough. Roofs, carports and walls are normally common property, owned by all the owners together, and improvements to common property need the owners' approval under the scheme's rules. The Prescribed Management Rules under the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act set out a process where owners receive written notice of the proposal, with the estimated cost, how it will be funded and drawings, and have a period to object.
Your managing agent will know the exact route for your scheme. What we provide is what the notice needs from the technical side: a clear description of what will be installed and where, the loads it will carry, and an itemised quote.
Estates run by a homeowners' association have their own rules, and most have an aesthetics or architectural committee that approves anything visible on a roof. Check those rules before committing to a layout.
Owners who want panels for their own unit
Individual owners in a sectional title scheme often want solar for their own section. If the panels go on the common property roof, the body corporate has to allow it, and it should do so on written terms: where the panels may go, who pays for the roof repairs under them, who removes them if the roof needs work, and how the cable is routed to the unit.
A scheme that sets a policy once avoids having the same discussion with every owner who asks. Each owner's system still needs its own City registration and CoC.
What the scheme should keep on file
The common property installation needs a certificate of compliance and City of Cape Town authorisation for the common supply, with an inverter from the City's approved list. Keep both with the scheme's records, together with a labelled layout of the system, so a future managing agent or contractor knows what is there.
Inform the scheme's insurer of the installation. Plan maintenance as well: panels on a complex roof collect dust and, near the coast, salt. See solar maintenance and repairs.