Why utility firms need to embrace 'intelligent' distribution systems

At the just concluded Gitex Global Expo in Dubai, Financial Standard had a chat with Huawei South Africa Chief Technology Officer Matamela Mashau on the need for utility companies such as Kenya Power to transition from legacy technology to a digitised power distribution network.

Here are excerpts from the interview. 

What are some of the challenges with the technology used by African utility firms?

Currently, electricity companies rely on silo technologies.

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They have a pile of gadgets to manage this legacy technology and different Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

They can have a full rack of devices where they connect different types of sensors.

We need to be able to consolidate all of these into one piece that can accommodate all that. 

How does modern technology differ from legacy operations for utility companies?

Traditionally, when utility companies want to know if the power lines are still running smoothly, they will send an engineer to inspect them manually. With our solution, you are not supposed to do that.

We can provide Internet of Things (IoT) devices into these power lines, network communication in the form of microwaves and Wi-Fi, which can be powered using solar.

The solution provides video surveillance cameras and microphones.

In a scenario where there is a kite that flew and got stuck on the power lines or some people are working along them, we can survey this remotely because the information is sent to the command centre.

Engineers are then sent to the ground to provide solutions, not to assess the problem.

In South Africa, for example, the challenge they face in the substation is that whenever there is an issue, they need to send engineers to go and inspect physically if there are leakages or any fault. 

How dependable is such technology?

This technology can detect any problem and send an alarm to the engineer seated at the command centre.

We have a further technology, which you can deploy along the perimeter to protect against any vibration.

It uses different types of AI analytics to detect any vibrations (disturbance) and will trigger the camera to zoom to a particular place for assessment.

For example, in South Africa, we recently had an incident where people sabotaged a high-voltage power tower, and it fell on a main road blocking it for half a day.

With AI analytics, you could install a sensor so that immediately people cut into the tower it will alert the command centre.

What are some of the benefits of adopting such technologies for utility companies like Kenya Power in their distribution systems?

In South Africa, for example, about 95 per cent of customers get power from Eskom.

It means they have power lines up to people’s homes.

They need to run the fibre lines along the towers and they can run it to households.

The investment for them to do that is lower compared to those who have to start from scratch. Kenya Power is doing fibre to homes, which is an opportunity to connect counties.

What specific challenges does the adoption of the new technology hope to address?

Power industries have three major challenges, the key among them being line losses. In South Africa, we have something called Izinyoka. These are individuals who steal electricity through illegal connections.

Line losses stand at about 40 per cent in Africa.

There is also the challenge of low reliability. For example, in the substation if there is a problem, how long does it take to get an engineer to solve it?

If I am the household, does the electric company have the intelligence that that residential area does not have electricity or the voltage is down? 

They usually wait for me as a resident to give them a call and say, “I have no electricity,” but using the smart metres technology, we are able to detect that.