Canterbury Council makes me pull down a solar panel system

This is a tale of utter, unwavering bureacracy at its finest (or worst).

Here goes. I'll try and keep it as brief as possible.

I buy and install solar panels to take advantage of the current NSW state government "gross tarrif" scheme. This part is important - in order to take advantage of the scheme, one needs to "feed back" electricity generated to the grid (govt buys all of it from you at 60c/kw), and you buy it back from your energy provider at about 17c/kw. This is the scheme set up 1/1/10 this year and is called "gross tarrif". "Gross Tarrif" replaced the old "net tarrif scheme" (ie you used the solar electricity you generate at home, and any excess is sent to the grid). This plan is actively being advertised by Canterbury Council's website, as well as by the Department of Energy and Infrastructure - no mention of the need of council approval is made any where on ther sites.

OK, so I get the panels installed on a "mounted kit"(ie non flush) on my roof. Neighbour gets upset and takes a shot in the dark, complaining to council. Council comes out and says that we are in breach of planning laws as we had not lodged a DA, and that the solar panels did not fall under the "exempt" category contained in the s39 SEPP 2007 (infrastructure). 2 reasons were given. The first was that we were "not using more that 75% of the electricty we generate" - i.e that we were planning on feeding back to the grid (gross tarrif). The second was that we had a roof mounted (non flush) kit.

Of course I was confused. We had installed a solar system on the advice of the company installing it and the state governments representations. Yet when we read s39 of the SEPP it states:
Section 39. "Development for the purpose of a photovoltaic system or solar hot water system for a building is exempt development if it complies with clause 20 (2) (Exempt development) and all of the following requirements are met:
(a) the system is integrated into the building or is flush or parallel with the surface of its roof,
(b) the development does not:
(i) reduce the structural integrity of, or involve structural alterations to, the building, or
(ii) necessitate the removal of trees from near the building to ensure that solar energy is available for the system,
(c) on average, over any 5 year period, at least 75 per cent of the electricity generated by the system in a 12 month period is used in or for the building,
(d) the system is not located on a building that is a State or local heritage item or is in a heritage conservation area."

I was amazed. As I stated to Council, that would mean that everyone of the thousands of people who had taken up the state governments GROSS TARRIFF SCHEME without loding a DA would be in technical breach of section 39(c). I could not believe that state government would be incompetent enough to introduce a initiative as wide spread as their solar tarrif sheme, and yet not set up the regulatory structures to support it - and yet it had. In my later inquiries with the department of planning I would learn that the current s39 SEPP exemptions were outdated, and were implemented prior to the introduction of the gross tarriff scheme this year. However, they were in the process of updating the "exempt provisions of the SEPP" to make roof mounted and gross feed systems "exempt". My advice from that department that this was less than 2 months away, and that all other things being equal, my system should be totally compliant. The changes are found here http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=qAqn4Nkun04%3d&....
I put this to council, on the grounds that;
(a) their actions against me totally undermined the state government initiative, and were patently unfair in that I had relied upon the impicit representations of the department of energy that no planning documentation was needed to take advantage of the gross tarriff scheme - and yet it was.
(b) that changes to the laws were imminent and that it would be ludicrous to have me rip down the panels, only to put them straight back up "as is" when the laws change very soon.

But, to no avail.

Council made me rip them down, issuing a demolition order.

What can I say, talk about total inflexibility and rigid unthinking black letter application of the laws. With the upcoming changes to the laws, and the fact that people look to state governments as reliable sources of information regarding the initiatives they are offering, I can't help but feel duped both by the state government ( I mean, c'mon if you're gonna introduce a scheme at least get the regulatins in place before hand so people dont fall foul of the law when taking it up.... or at least advise people that they need to get DA approval to sell back to the grid). Also, council wouldn't even consider the imminent upcoming changes which would see "mounted" panels being allowed up to 1m high.

• Canterbury City Council
• Gripe
• Compliance