Energize special issue:  AMEU Proceedings
  
e-Newsletter for the power and energy sectors of southern Africa  December 2013
Welcome address by the AMEU president
by Hannes Roos, AMEU President

 

I welcome you to the 24th AMEU Technical Convention here at ICC East London, hosted by Buffalo City. I trust that the AMEU convention programme and the affiliates' sports day will fulfill all your expectations. I want to thank the 2013 convention team for their effort in ensuring that this event is a resounding success, taking into account the increased challenges year by year... (more)

Keynote address at the AMEU Technical Convention 2013
by Malusi Gigaba, Minister of Public Enterprises

 

It gives me great pleasure to address you on this important occasion of your convention, assembling as it does during the important period in our country when we have resolved to make the important and yet decisive turn towards more meaningful, radical and faster economic transformation... (more)

A word from the regulator
by Phindile Baleni, CEO of NERSA

 

"Supporting SA infrastructure and service delivery objectives" is indeed an important theme to explore over the next three days. It is true that almost twenty years into democracy, the country still faces the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality... (more)

Keynote address at the AMEU Technical Convention 2013
by Dr. Wolsey Barnard, Department of Energy

 

A good working relationship has been established between the Department of Energy (DoE) and the AMEU. The important role that the AMEU is playing, not only in keeping the lights on at a municipal level, but also as a professional association that is operating on different levels within the energy environment, is recognised and valued... (more)

Message from the AMEU president elect
by Sicelo Xulu, AMEU president elect

 

That we have chosen Buffalo City to host this year's technology convention is fitting with the theme of the conference which seeks to focus on how best municipal electricity utilities can support South Africa's infrastructure and service delivery objectives. Buffalo City, like many municipalities across the country, is facing a number of infra-structure and service delivery challenges... (more)


The South African smart grid vision
by Dr. Minnesh Bipath, SANEDI

 

South Africa's electricity supply industry stands at the threshold of critical transformation. This moment presents an opportunity for innovation to improve service delivery and to enhance industry sustainability. However, it also requires important decisions to be made for the optimal deployment of available resources... (more)

Disaster management - an integrated response
by Chris Billingham, Eskom 

A disaster can be defined as a progressive or sudden, widespread or localised, natural or human-caused occurrence which causes or threatens to cause death, injury or disease, damage to property, infrastructure or the environment, or disruption of the life of a community... (more)
Enhancing asset management with detailed asset data and a connected network model
by Jayshree Pershad, eThekwini Electricity; Coert Scherman, Attie Senekal, and Jonathan Hunsley, Aurecon 

eThekwini Municipality's integrated development plan includes a quality living environment programme. The integrated asset management plan includes the management of electricity, water and sanitation, roads, transport, parks and leisure, stormwater, solid waste and property and buildings assets... (more)

Unified service, asset and work management in a spatial environment for better efficiency
by Bouke Spoelstra, Vetasi 

Whether they are called cities or towns or municipalities, local government organisations of all forms around the world shoulder the same responsibility to provide essential services to their constituents. Amid flat or shrinking budgets, local governments today are expected to accomplish more with fewer resources... (more)
The evolution of medium voltage power cables up to 36 kV
by Patrick O'Halloran, City Power 

In South Africa most utilities still install three-core paper insulated lead covered (PILC) cables and are considering three-core cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulated cables. No utilities install three-core ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) insulated cables which are extensively utilised in the mining industries... (more)
The benefits of using high-temperature low-sag (HTLS) overhead conductors
by Tony Hill, CTC Global Corporation

As growing demand for electricity continues to stress the electrical transmission grid, many transmission lines have become thermally constrained. This is due to the subsequent sag that occurs as bare overhead conductors are operated at higher loads and temperatures, due to their high coefficients of thermal expansion... (more)
The Durban Solar City Framework as a case study for small scale embedded generators  
by Derek Morgan, eThekwini Municipality; Amy Marshall, Camco Clean Energy; Nathan Williams and William Hove, EAB Astrum Energy

China introduced ground-breaking legislation in 2005, the Renewable Energy Law of the People's Republic of China. The "Renewable Energy Law" was a national framework to promote the uptake of renewable energy (RE) throughout the country... (more)
Demand response applications for municipal utilities
by David Ellis, Comverge 

An Eskom-funded demand response (DR) pilot achieved significant outcomes proving that the market is ready for DR. Municipalities, using ripple control relays, played an important role during the pilot but there is still much more value to be gained... (more)
Renewable generation reactive power capability and grid code compliance  
by Mick Barlow, S&C Europe, Middle East and Africa

Most renewable generation will have the ability to either generate and/or absorb reactive power. This paper will illustrate the relationship between the plant capabilities and the grid code and identify some of the key factors that determine if auxiliary compensation equipment is needed to obtain compliance... (more)

Financial recovery of embedded generation in medium voltage systems  
by Ravi Moonsamy, Eskom

Embedded generation (EG) could provide many benefits in terms of reduction of system technical losses and increased load carrying capacity. EG options are being focused on by users of electricity in South Africa in order to improve energy savings and increase revenues derived from the sale of electricity... (more)
Alternative energy to deliver services to unproclaimed urban informal settlements  
by Clive Hardwick and Grant Mashile, Energy One

Globally the developing world is characterised by large inflows of people into urban areas giving rise to large informal settlements. In South Africa government estimates that around 10% of South Africa's 51-million people live in unproclaimed urban informal settlements. This equates to more than 5,1-million households... (more)
Rural electrification challenges and opportunities
by Mohamed Peer, GIBB

This paper describes GIBB's experience and presents some of the key challenges in undertaking projects of this nature in deep rural communities. New access to household electrification affects both home and market production in ways which change the nature of work in the home and in ways that increase market labour... (more)

The electrification planning report - the process, content and result
by Mikie Khumalo, Eskom

Eskom, acting as the electricity agent of the government, through the Department of Energy (DoE) and Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), has been mandated to execute the on-going government-funded electrification programme to meet the extended goals of the Universal Access Plan... (more)
Utilities: self regulation for self-sufficient electricity distribution
by Nhlanhleni Lucky Ngidi, NERSA

Most South African electricity utilities, especially within municipal jurisdictions, only monitor performance and compliance requirements of their business processes against the requirements of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP). Other important business aspects are ignored because they are not mentioned in the IDP... (more)
Achieving optimal benefits with a demand response system
by Rodney Swartz, Siemens

Mention the word "Medupi", and faces go red with embarrassment, angers flare and all kinds of comments and explanations are offered. The reality is that we need additional supply capacity, that we are facing all kinds of challenges to build new power stations and implement renewable IPP solutions... (more)
Grid connection code for renewable power plants South Africa
by Target Mchunu and T Khoza, Eskom

Regulations have and still play a major role in the successful penetration of renewable energies in the power grid. In South Africa, the White Paper on Renewable Energy of 2003 set a target of 10 000 GWh of energy to be produced from renewable energy sources (mainly from biomass, wind, solar and small-scale hydro) by 2013... (more)
Utility strategies to eliminate or minimise safety incidents and environmental impacts
by Troy Govender, Eskom 

Electricity utilities in Africa are faced with numerous environmental and safety challenges. Some of these include public pressure (consumer pressure, lobbying, voter preferences), new standards and legislation (Constitution, ISO14001), new business opportunities... (more)
Serious incident in the Boksburg area of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality
by Dave Jamieson, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality 

A summary report on the investigation and proposals following an electrical incident that occurred on 11 March 2013 at a switching station in Boksburg that resulted in the injury of four council employees... (more)
Distribution automation sets network standards and smart grid roll out
by Tim Spearing, Lucy Switchgear, UK, and Rick St. John, Lucy Switchgear, SA 

The challenges of electrification of many new and existing distribution networks are at the cusp of the evolution of the smart grid. Utilities are charged with meeting network performance measures and improving network infrastructure whilst facing cost down pressures... (more)
Secure reliable communications: The backbone of a successful LV smart grid
by Andrew Goedhart, Util Labs 

Deploying the smart grid into the LV network creates a number of challenges relating to the sheer size, security and reliability of the network. If we are to obtain maximum benefit from the LV smart grid the network has to support both command and control as well as information retrieval... (more)
How software adds intelligence to the smart grid
by Torben Cederberg, Ventyx and Karen Blackmore, energy and industry analyst 

Information technology such as smart meters, advanced SCADA systems, forecasting tools, business intelligence and many other examples of modern software solutions are adding smartness to the power system parts of tomorrow's smart grid networks... (more)
Johannesburg's smart meter implementation programme: from concept to reality
by Sicelo Xulu, City Power 

As municipalities struggle with revenue collection, the issue of accurate billing and credit control is becoming more and more important. This calls for intelligent systems to help the billing team to minimise billing errors and to cope with the volume of additional customers coming online on daily basis... (more)
Bring city lighting to life: dynamic, intelligent and flexible control of city lighting
by Daniel Gooijer, Philips Lighting 

It is expected that the global urban population will grow by about 44-million people every year. Of this world population 70% is expected to live in cities by 2050. This puts huge stress on resources and forces us to change the way we think and operate cities. We need to do more with less... (more)
LED street lighting: current and future trends, South African standards and case studies
by Daniel Kasper, Beka 

Public policies, environmental and energy saving concerns are driving the local take-up of energy-efficient lighting. LED, or solid-state lighting solutions are becoming more and more popular, owing to their excellent levels of performance and rapidly falling prices... (more)

In this issue...
- Welcome address by the AMEU president
- Keynote address by Malusi Gigaba, Minister of Public Enterprises
- A word from the regulator, CEO Phindile Baleni
- Keynote address by Dr. Wolsey Barnard, Department of Energy
- Message from AMEU president Elect Sicleo Xulu
- The South African smart grid vision
- Disaster management - an integrated response
- Enhancing asset management with detailed asset data and a connected network model
- Unified service, asset and work management in a spatial environment for better efficiency
- The evolution of medium voltage power cables up to 36 kV
- The benefits of using high-temperature low-sag (HTLS) overhead conductors
- The Durban Solar City Framework as a case study for small scale embedded generators
- Demand response applications for municipal utilities
- Renewable generation reactive power capability and grid code compliance
- Financial recovery of embedded generation in medium voltage systems
- Alternative energy to deliver services to unproclaimed urban informal settlements
- Rural electrification challenges and opportunities
- The electrification planning report
- Utilities: self regulation for self-sufficient electricity distribution
- Achieving optimal benefits with a demand response system
- Grid connection code for renewable power plants South Africa
- Utility strategies to eliminate or minimise safety incidents and environmental impacts
- Serious incident in the Boksburg area of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality
- Distribution automation sets network standards and smart grid roll out.
- Secure reliable communications: The backbone of a successful LV smart grid
- How software adds intelligence to the smart grid
- Johannesburg's smart meter implementation programme: from concept to reality
- Bring city lighting to life: dynamic, intelligent and flexible control of city lighting
- LED street lighting: current and future trends, South African standards and case studies
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