Electricity and Control April 2022

COMMENT

INDUSTRY 4.0 + IIOT

Electric energy – consider a different paradigm

I t seems impossible not to reflect, briefly, on the energy environment. We have had a spate of load shedding and we see the international fuel market facing a few head winds based on some uncertainties in that other hemisphere. Let’s consider for a moment the other hemisphere. What is worth noting is that it’s actually quite far from us. That sounds trite, but one does tire of hearing of the ‘challeng- es of the global south’ without remembering that all is nowhere near well in the global north, now, is it? There are many times when we must realise that being a part of Africa, and the global south, is not such a bad thing at all. In fact, it may provide us with opportuni- ties to break the mould – and do things that may seem unheard of elsewhere. Remember the penetration of cellular telephony? This continent did not suffer the vested interest posed by fixed line provid- ers in so much of the so-called developed world. Imagine how archaic those systems were? A phone connected to a fixed point? You would hear it ring and go rushing to it. And if you were not there, you did not get the call … admittedly, that was not always a bad thing. This continent was way ahead of the field in having individuals contactable by a sin- gle number – no matter where they were. That was remarkable – and if we look about, the fixed line industry has really been over- taken by new tech. Now, consider energy for a moment: this continent is big. The transmission network is fairly well developed in some places, but generally not that well established on the continent as a whole. So large tracts of the continent are not served by traditional transmission and distribution systems. This means that, with a few exceptions, the vest-

ed interest which may actively discourage investment into alternative energy solutions is limited – again, far more limited than in the developed world. Herein lies the opportunity. (And, it would seem, that where the in- frastructure was well developed, neglect of the system over some time actually re- moved some of the potential vested interest discouraging the go ahead with alternative energy solutions. A bitter pill, and frustrat- ing. But possibly an opportunity.) We must also admit that many indus- tries are not running on renewable energy (a phrase generally loosely used) systems, but are rather burning fossil fuels just to keep the lights on out of necessity. I am based right now on a site where exactly this is being done – so that I can work, and our systems (it’s a large load) can continue uninterrupted. We have begun installing re- newable energy systems. But the challenge is our current view of what electric energy must be: it must be there all the time because that is how our industry runs. Let me urge you to begin to think about a different paradigm. Imagine that we craft an economy which is able to survive – and indeed thrive – based on renewables alone. And we understand that this means there may well be interruptions. Imagine that? Imagine a world where we run the sys- tem on ‘this’ weekend because the wind is blowing; but go off for two days (in the mid- dle of the week) because it isn’t. Madness? I think not. We need to flip this and imagine a different and sustainable world. I challenge you to think this through in your own context.

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APRIL 2022 Electricity + Control

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