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Call centre blues
by Mike Rycroft, editor
 When call centres were introduced, they were regarded as the ultimate in efficient handling of fault reports and complaints from customers. The current reality is that poor training and poor management makes them ineffective and virtually inoperative. The street where I live is in an older suburb fed with overhead conductors, and is subject to high levels of conductor theft... (more)
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Eskom - a company in distress...
by Chris Yelland, EE Publishers
 The third multi-year price determination (MYPD3) by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) for the 5-year period commencing 1 April 2013 has further revealed a picture of the national electricity utility, Eskom, in distress... (more)
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Energize InBox: Wind electricity? No good
Our winning letter to the editor
In a well-prepared presentation of the work done at UCT in up-dating earlier maps of South Africa's wind energy resources, Dr. Kilian Hageman effectively showed the full implications of wind-generated electricity plans for South Africa, revealing a vision for South Africa to provide all its electricity needs from renewables by 2030... (more)
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The Jacob Marley column: To measure is to know
It is indeed an old saw that "to measure is to know". In the well-known story of Alice in Wonderland, she reaches a fork in the road and asks the cheshire cat as to which way she ought to go. The cat, like a well-trained bureaucrat, purrs that it depends a good deal on where she wishes to go. "I don't much care where " Alice replies, at which the cat chips in with: "Then it doesn't matter which way you go"... (more)
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Smart meters, dumb tariffs - who needs smart meters without smart prices?
by Dr. Perry Sioshansi, EEnergy Informer Group
Utilities are proceeding with ambitious and expensive implementation plans to replace analog meters with smart meters can measure usage by time interval, which allows utilities to monitor not only total volumetric consumption but the pattern of consumption. Moreover, the meters can provide a range of new service options... (more) |
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The low cost of wind energy and how it softens the Eskom price impact
by Johan van den Berg, South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA)
The past two weeks have seen South Africans speaking in one voice at the NERSA hearings investigating Eskom's MYPD3 application to increase the cost of electricity. The hearings were very informative for wind energy when we consider that the second round of the REIPPP saw average levelised prices for wind being bid at 89 c/kWh... (more)
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External health costs of a coal-fired power plant: The case of Kusile: Part 2 by Johannes W Riekert and Steven F Koch, University of Pretoria
This article examines an important subset of the expected health costs associated with the commissioning of Kusile, the new coal-fired electricity generation plant. The subset of health impacts focuses on sulphur dioxides, nitrous oxides and large particulate matter ( larger than 10 µm)... (more)
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Power developments in Africa
- 1,3-million new electricity connections in Africa
- Progress on substations in Kenya
- Cote d'Ivoire plans new hydro scheme
- Ethiopia-Kenya interconnection
- Morocco focuses on wind and hydro energy
- Burkino Faso expansion project
- Thermal power station for Swaziland
- Zambia - Kabompo growth project... (more)
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Upgrade of power station instrumentation Information from Invensys
The operators of the Keadby power station needed to address the obsolescence of its existing DCS and provide an expandable solution to extend the service life of the power station. A total upgrade during a planned major shutdown, and in parallel with other plant projects, was required with minimal commissioning time... (more) |
IEC61850 - Practical configuration management
by E MacDonald and R Hunt, GE Digital Energy and P Hill and S Cox, Powertech System Integrators
The IEC 61850 standard presents a challenge for configuration management and prescribes that there should be a system configuration description (SCD) file for the set of communicating devices in a substation... (more) |
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Protection settings management at City Power
by HA Baartman, Digsilent Buyisa and H Nkuna, City Power
A case study on the implementation of an integrated protection settings management system (PSMS) at City Power is presented. This PSMS manages and stores all protective relays settings and parameters and allows for workflow management within the protection environment... (more) |
New products for electrification and distribution
Information from ARB Electrical Wholesalers
ARB Electrical Wholesalers is set to play a major role in Eskom's Transmission Development Plan (TDP) which seeks to meet the long-term requirements of electricity consumers in South Africa. A new development, beneficial for the TDP, is ACCC conductor for South Africa and the SADC region... (more) |
Surge arrestors ensure operation of overhead lines for KZN
Information from Live Line Technology
Many parts of Africa experience some of the most intense lightning activity in the world, resulting in damage and disconnection of overhead lines. Effective surge protection is required to ensure minimum damage and maximum uptime of distribution plant... (more)
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Categorisation of losses and uncertainty for wind energy
Information from DNV KEMA
A typical wind resource and energy yield assessment derives gross generation from a site's wind speed frequency distribution and a turbine's power curve. Technical loss factors are then applied to derive expected net energy generation... (more)
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The potential of small and medium wind energy in developing countries
Information from Alliance for Rural Electrification
Small and medium wind technologies (SMWT) offer excellent solutions rural electrification. Small and medium wind turbines are not only environmentally friendly, they also offer a very advantageous cost-competitive solution for off grid applications in rural areas... (more) |
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Electric vehicles - land, water and air in 2013
by Dr. Peter Harrop, IDTechEx
The hybrid and pure electric vehicle business will continue to prosper in 2013, with profits and growth the norm in most sectors. Laws will proliferate that make electric vehicles the only way to go. For example, more of the world's lakes will ban diesel engines. Harbours, city centres etc. will get tougher... (more)
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Traction transformation
by Max Claessens, Drazen Dujic, Francisco Canales, Juergen K Steinke, Philippe Stefanutti and Christian Vetterli, ABB
When it comes to technology, there are numerous reasons that smaller is better, and much research effort goes into footprint reduction. Some products, however, have largely resisted this tendency. The minimum size of a power transformer is essentially determined by the laws of physics... (more) |
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