Tag: Nishandra Baijnath

Modernising Africa’s power grid to manage bi-directional flows is essential for enabling renewable-powered economic growth, following the crippling effects of prolonged periods of load shedding. Even though South Africa has experienced a protracted spell without load shedding, electricity outages persist due to network overloading.

Modernising power networks through digitisation and innovative technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), is essential. Utilities and municipalities must improve efficiency and manage the growing complexities of energy distribution.

As the world’s second largest continent, the vast expanse Africa lends itself to remote operations, often hundreds of kilometres away from civilisation and the hub of infrastructure and supply such as energy. Industries like mining, minerals and metals often must contend with considerable energy loss or high transportation costs of diesel (for self-generation) due to these vast distances.

Today, many power industry stakeholders are faced with mounting requirements for improved grid reliability, resilience, and distribution efficiency. It’s a challenge which requires power service providers to rethink their infrastructure, particularly making the most of smart grid philosophies in their deployments.