Electricity + Control July 2017

POWER SOLUTIONS

or agents representative of electricity production capacities easily portrays this. Where mainstream power plants are the typical agents to be found in such a supply network, a free agent can be intro- duced in the form of a temporary power plant or a different technology. The system then has a new interaction. The interactivity is possible because of synchronous technology of the temporary power plant that contributes a high level of operational stability. This makes sense in that sub-Saharan Af- rica’s energy mix would comprise renewable pow- er generation sources that pose challenges to sys-

Pattern

Feedback

Feedback

Regularities

Agents

tem reliability and performance, given their inherent intermittent contribution and associated disturbances to the grid or system. Second , Complex Adaptive Systems are self-organising and provide the best fit with the environment through feed- back mechanisms. Temporary power plants have control mechanisms that provide flexibility in their supply scheme in that they can be loaded, unloaded, follow demand profiles and their main- tenance scheduled in order to optimise availability and operation with transmis- sion system operators. Third , Complex Adaptive Systems co-evolve to the edge of chaos to take

Figure 1: Complex Adaptive Systems.

Specific characteristics of complex adaptive systems and the fit of free agents in the form of temporary or rental power solutions are emphasised to describe system performance potential.

Existing Power Stations: Have disturbances

National Grid: The System

Export to Grid: System Addition

Free Agent: Rental Power Plant

Captive Power for User: Local Addition

Figure 2: A Complex Adaptive System.

First , it is a network that comprises of organisa- tional elements or entities that are interconnect- ed and exhibit adaptivity in response to changes in the external environment or the entities them- selves. An electricity supply network with nodes

advantages where maximum creativity, diversity and variety exist. Thus when their environments change, the entities co-evolve and change the envi- ronment. This is a continuous process of co-evolu- tion. Sub-Saharan Africa is beleaguered with power

Electricity + Control

JULY 2017

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