Sparks Electrical News September 2019

INDUSTRY 4.0

18

SMART GRID SOLUTION FOR UTILITIES REVENUE COLLECTION

A t African Utility Week, Johan Pretorius, Busi- ness Development Manager, Schneider Electric South Africa presented a paper on the 'Impact of Revenue Collection on Non-Tech- nical Losses’. “The current issues facing utilities are the need to up revenue collection and reduce non-technical losses. These include theft, illegal connections, meter tampering and incorrect meter- ing, all of which contribute to the lack of revenue collection,” explains Pretorius. “The efficiency of electrical distribution is rarely planned or managed by utilities. “One of the key challenges is the incorrect and inaccurate municipal billing system, resulting in various communities being dissatisfied with incorrect and inaccurate municipal bills that are issued. Consequently, public confidence in terms of the billing system dwindles and communities are unwilling to pay for bills issued. “Non-technical losses in the power sector are almost non-existent or negligibly small in developed countries but the situation tends to be significantly different in developing countries. In all successful cases, a large share of non-technical

losses was concentrated in users being able to pay for cost-reflective tariffs. The elimination of those losses should be a matter of high national priority for every country," says Pretorius. “Thanks to Smart Grid strategies, it is possible to plan, measure and improve both transmission and distribution efficiency. The Smart Grid is an electricity network that can intelligently integrate the actions of all users connected to it – be they generators, consumers or both. They are all able to deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supplies efficiently. Substation monitoring “One example," says Pretorius, "is in substation monitoring. Monitoring of Medium Voltage (MV) equipment in older substations is costly, as it re- quires complex, intrusive methods. New solutions and sensors are required. With smart grid solutions, simulation and testing become effective methods for reducing network losses. “The daily load, voltage, power factor and temperature profiles of substation and feeders are examples of data that can be gathered by a

monitoring system and a chronological overview of events can be determined. These data points can then be formatted into customisable dashboards." Problem solving becomes easier with the system. For instance, locating the sources of losses within the network is one of the first challenges. One solution for monitoring LV networks is to utilise smart energy meters. Utilities operating electrical distribution networks are now able to reduce losses in their networks, thanks to smart strategies, thereby enhancing active and passive energy efficiency. “Local distribution networks are becoming more difficult to manage. Therefore, more accurate and highly networked (connected) equipment and sensors, will be required," Pretorius notes. Solutions The transitioning to Smart MV/LV Substations is the cornerstone of Smart Grid. Utilities operating electrical distribution networks are in a position to reduce losses due to smart strategies which en- hance active and passive energy efficiency. “The market reality is there are increased short-

Johan Pretorius, Business Development Manager, Schneider Electric South Africa.

term capital costs but the long-term advantages would include lower operating costs, reduced energy waste and an integrated and flexible network. At Schneider Electric, we have become the standard in a number of our markets, and we want to power the digital economy in Africa,” concludes Pretorius.

Enquiries: www.se.com/za

ENGINEERING IS SHAPING THE FUTURE E ngineering is shaping what the future will look like and is evolving as quickly as technology itself. This year’s highly successful Engineering Community Confer- ence (ECC) hosted by ESTEQ at the CSIR International Conference Centre fo- cused on how to future-proof businesses, ideas, products and jobs. Hosted by technology specialist, ESTEQ, the event provided engineering professionals from a wide range of industries the opportunity to share their experiences and ideas on the use of technology to develop better products and systems. Gold partners were Siemens, Standard Bank and Syspro, while silver partners were Aerotherm, Additive Manufacturing Solutions (AMS), Autoform and ASIC. Delegates were held spellbound by keynote speaker Dion Chang, CEO of FluxTrends, who talked about the second wave of disruption. Citing four megatrends – robotics and automation, big data, cloud computing and mixed reality – he described different types of pivot that are already impacting business, and outlined the skills and mindset required for companies to leapfrog into the future. This was followed by talks on digitalisation in South Africa and how to contextualise it in an African context by Edwin Severjijn, senior vice president and managing director EMA of Siemens Industry Software; Cobus Oosthuizen, CEO OF ESTEQ; and Ralf Leinen, senior vice president of Digital Industries, southern and eastern Africa. This was followed by breakaway sessions where papers were presented by engineers from a wide variety of industries and technology applications covering specialised user- focused topics in the areas of digital enterprise, engineering simulation, product design and PLM, manufacturing solutions and test and measurement. The highlight was the announcement of the acquisition of ESTEQ by Siemens and the signing of the agreement in front of the conference. EATON AT THE 2019 ICT INFRASTRUCTURE CONFERENCE AND EXPO EATON AFRICA participated at the 2019 ICT Infrastructure Conference and Expo at Emperors Palace on 28 th and 29 th August 2019. Eaton engaged with data centre operators and consultants to discuss power management issues and solutions that maximise uptime, lower cost and scale to meet business needs well into the future. “Eaton understands that data centres are the backbone of many of today’s businesses. We showcased innovative, mission critical solutions that obtain higher availability systems, improve efficiency and offer flexible, scalable solutions that meet the specific needs of today’s business,” says Deon Ferreira, data centre leader South Africa, Eaton. Eaton’s Janne Paananen, technology manager, critical power solutions PQED EMEA, Eaton Finland, also presented as part of the energy track. During the session, titled “Data centre as a source of dynamic flexibility for the power gird – Uninterruptible Power Supply as a Reserve”, the presentation explored the challenges faced by grid operators where more flexibility is needed to manage variations in production and possible congestion in distribution of energy. The stored energy in the data centres can be used to provide dynamic flexibility and services for the power grid. Eaton data centre solutions include UPS products, enclosures, primary range of medium voltage power distribution products, environmentally friendly medium voltage range of secondary switchgear, latest technology low voltage distribution switchboard, advanced power management and reliability techniques. Enquiries: +27 (0)11 652 2795

RS COMPONENTS EXPLORED INDUSTRY 4.0 AT KITE 2019

Christie Hendriks, Wesley Hood, celebrity couple Mark Whitfield and Patricia Lewis, Wojtek Sanetra and Vishal Ramphal.

T he world, as we know it, is changing. Everything is evolving and at a rapid pace at that. Industry too, is faced with these changes. We find ourselves at a crossroads where the old way of doing things is no longer working as optimally as before and in order to be ahead of the curve, industry needs to ‘up the ante’ while being more relevant than ever. The KwaZulu-Natal Industrial Technology Exhibition (KITE), which took place recently at Durban’s Exhibition Centre, explored the path industry will be taking in the not too distant future and enlightened those in attendance of what needed to be done to survive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). According to Brian Andrew MD of RS Components South Africa, if businesses don’t embrace this disruption, they will not survive. “Automation, IoT and connected devices impact all industries. They could grow businesses and create jobs, and already, we in SA can see a plethora of benefits. Furthermore, for South Africa to compete successfully in a 4 th Industrial Revolution economy, stakeholders across all sectors must work together to drive progress in this country – which is why we embrace opportunities to exhibit at events such as the KwaZulu-Natal Industrial Technology Exhibition. It allows us to show companies, emerging businesses and individuals the impact of technology and IoT in all aspects of our lives,” he said. RS Components SA, a market leader in the electronic, electrical and industrial component space was one of the successful companies that exhibited at this year’s KITE event. “At RS, we promote technological thinking and this is further enhanced through our DesignSpark website for anyone of any age to share ideas, innovations, learn how to code or conceptualise designs with other users. DesignSpark has grown in leaps and bounds with more than 750 000 members – all of whom understand the importance of the connected age where IoT is revolutionising the way we see our lives moving forward. We also support our customers

to reduce overall cost of Maintenance Repair and Operations (MRO) Procurement through our web capabilities as well as our well-priced and quality private label brand-RS Pro. KITE 2019 was a great platform for us to showcase our company and have face-to-face conversations with our many online customers. We look forward to the next one,” added Andrew. KITE Portfolio Director Nick Sarnadas, pointed out that the three main educational events at KITE 2019 included the SAIMechE Seminar Theatre, the MESA (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) special interest group, and the Lifting Equipment Association of South Africa (LEEASA) conference. “Some of the topics under discussion at the SAIMechE Seminar Theatre included ‘Embracing Industry 4.0 – reshaping and redefining industrial manufacturing’, ‘Embedding compliance into business processes’, ‘The 5-year plan in terms of opportunities and challenges facing the SA manufacturing industry’, and ‘The top five industrial automation trends for 2019 and beyond’. The speaker line-up included a number of well-known industry specialists who brought their personal business experiences to the table,” he said. KITE 2019 visitor Tumi Morake showing off the Sphero educa- tional robot.

Enquiries: +27 (0)11 691 9300

Enquiries: www.eaton.com

SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

SEPTEMBER 2019