Increasing energy efficiency and reducing energy waste – these are key to optimising the energy mix and enabling South Africa to overcome its continuing energy shortfall. This point was emphasised by Vladimir Milovanovic, Vice President, Power Systems, Anglophone Africa at Schneider Electric, addressing delegates at the Enlit Africa 2024 conference held recently in Cape Town. Milovanovic highlighted that the cleanest energy is that which we are not wasting – or ideally not using – as a result of increased efficiency in our grid management systems.
Speaking on ‘Grids of the future’, Milovanovic said if the country continues to waste energy, through technical and non-technical losses, it will negate the strides made in reaching its sustainability and energy availability goals. “Energy efficiency, therefore, using less, spending less, and emitting less, need to be key points of focus,” he noted.
“To overcome power supply disruptions effectively, we must address aging infrastructure and upskill and support the workforce maintaining it. This is particularly important if one considers that most of the country’s population is not privileged enough to install alternative energy resources, such as rooftop solar panels, and will continue to rely on the grid.
“Enabling Distribution System Operators (DSOs) like municipalities to minimise technical losses, and to identify and reduce non-technical losses, will go a long way towards ensuring they can continue to deliver services to their customers – and their revenue streams remain healthy and intact,” Milovanovic said.
Regarding the rise of the country’s prosumer market, he said with the passing of the Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Bill, DSOs will have to accommodate prosumers who are supplying and consuming energy.
“The passing of the bill is a significant development for South Africa. Already, loadshedding has compelled South Africans to become prosumers sooner than might have been expected. DSOs need to take this into account and enable consumers, with surplus energy, to sell it back to the network.
“Furthermore, DSOs must have the capability to integrate this surplus energy efficiently as it forms part of the distributed energy resources (DERs). For consumers this means DSOs must implement equipment such as smart meters, connected devices, and remote terminal units (RTUs) in substations. This infrastructure, together with smart grid digital management systems, will provide DSOs with the flexibility to integrate the DERs and service their customers,” he said.
“Although we are seeing the rise of prosumers, the country still depends on DSOs and their distribution infrastructure. And the Distribution System Operators need to have the skills and resources to maintain and expand their infrastructure to accommodate a changing energy landscape,” said Milovanovic.
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