Drakenstein Amnesty For Unapproved Alternative Energy Installations

The Drakenstein municipality in the Boland of the Western Cape says it will not penalise property owners who installed alternative energy sources without pre-approval from the municipality.

The municipality has announced an amnesty period that will run until the end of March.

Municipal spokesperson Riana Geldenhuys says there was a spike in installations of solar panels and battery back-up systems at the height of Eskoms loadshedding, which were installed without approval from the municipality.

Geldenhuys however says they have since established that many professional installers were unaware of the need for pre-approvals.

These property owners will however have to submit their applications for approval to the municipality before midnight of the 31st of March 2025, these applications consist of two parts: firstly, a building plan approval which is administered by our building plan section, and secondly, an application to install a small scale electricity generation which is administered by our techno electricity division. They can find all the information on our website.