Chamalaza Site Assessment

There is an urgent need to reconcile malawi’s energy poverty in the context of technical, economic, social and political format. In this regard, it is necessary to design and implement off-grid power access projects - with community involvement, and vulnerable groups’ participation -  in solitary and rural areas of Malawi. If and only if that can be achieved, then we can safely be talking energy freedom.

This is why we thought of collaborating with our colleagues at Moto Briquette Project - in a quest to alleviate their challenges in their production - from manual operation to motorised. Take a look at their video on the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgcOKpInhtg&t=11s

 We visited their site to appreciate and understand their plight. We are safe to say that we have a solution for them. we should be done within some few months. Herewith a sample of our visit day:

https://youtu.be/nbl5M5BJsGk

THE DISTRIBUTION POWER LINE DESIGN ENGINEER WHO GOT STUNG BY WASPS

Today I had the privilege to design some electric power delivery systems to supply Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) under their Karonga Town Water Supply Project, funded by The Department for International Development (DFID). I therefore visited their sites at Mlare, Balyenge (Mwenilondo), Bwiba, Nyanja Hills and Karonga Water Treatment Plant.

While at Mwenilondo, I was in the bush capturing geo-spatial data using a mobile mapper. Unfortunately I encountered some overzealous wasps and received multiple stings on my neck, just behind the left ear. I had to endure the pain without rubbing the affected area, as doing the same was multiplying it further a thousand fold. When I came out to the open where the two colleagues from NRWB were waiting, I was advised to apply some Colgate paste to ease the pain. I reluctantly obliged and played along. Fortunately my field kit had some toiletries as I was yet to check-in at my place of lodging.

One of the places had a power requirement of 1,322KW, which translates to 1,652.5KVA at the applicants power factor of 0.8 in-line with their Consultants (Note that our country's recommended p.f. is 0.85. Currently, the site is supplied by a 500KVA, 11/0.4KV, ONAN, Dyn11, Ground Mounted (GM) Transformer, which is fed by a 70sq.mm 3 core Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) copper cable on the primary side and a 300sq.mm single core copper armoured cable on the secondary side. According to our work procedures, this capacity requirement has to be referred to our System Planning counterparts to carry out load flow simulations of the whole distribution feeder for such a load. However, in order to deliver the requested power and to be in tandem with the transformer capacity standardisation of the employer, the probable transformer choice is 2,000KVA, 11/0.4KV  GM Transformer. This choice gives us 104.97A primary and 2,886.75A secondary currents respectively. This may eventually culminate into issues of cable sizing and market availability. Another choice, therefore, would be to split the loading onto two sets of 1,000KVA each.

ALIGNING RURAL ENERGY ACCESS TO TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

 

Power utility companies are under the  obligation to extend their distribution networks in order to meet energy access rate needs. To this effect, a distribution business unit, in most instances, would have a dedicated Section for this function. In the case of Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM), this falls under the Distribution Planning and Development Section. 

This Section usually handles asset extension projects that may either be initiated and funded by the company itself, or indeed those requested by external customers. Basically, engineers in this Section are the first team on the ground. In the case of a customer request project, they are the decion makers whether a customer can be connected to the utility grid or not. They carry out several assessments ranging from a possible route that a power line will take, free from land rights obligation. Then they ascertain whether the system parameters are conducive to meet the power (or load) requirements of the customer. These may include transformer capacity availability, voltage levels etcetera. Then they proceed to design the system to meet all technical requirements that would enable delivery of quality supply to the consumer. Over and above technical data, they also capture geospatial data of the proposed network as well as Service Point. These are required for the team that would evenually construct the system, as well as billing requirements.

However, designing a power system for a rural set-up requires more than just technical system design. Often times in rural settings, especially those in sub-saharan Africa, what is required to deliver power to a consumer does not equate the ultimate economic returns on investment. This eventually culminates into a deeper area of concern popularly known as 'productive use of energy'. Going forward, most governments have to make a tough decision between increasing energy access to their citizens against economical benefits. This eventually becomes a tough debate between liberilising and privatizing power industries against having a monopolistic, and often inefficient systems of parastatals.

PRODUCTIVE USE OF ELECTRIC ENERGY – THE MALAWIAN CASE

Energy is a measurable property of a system that gives it the ability to perform work. Energy can mainly be classified as kinetic or potential. Kinetic energy is associated with motion whilst Potential energy is a function of position. Common forms of Kinetic energy are mechanical e.g. wind, thermal e.g. heat, electromagnetic radiation e.g. x-rays and electrical. Potential energy includes gravitational, electromagnetic and nuclear. Human beings need chemical energy to grow and be active. Energy, therefore, is provided by the carbohydrate, protein and fat in the food and drinks that are consumed.

The law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only changes form. Energy can change its form by using a device called a transducer. Transducers deal with different types of energies such as mechanical, electrical energy, light energy, chemical energy, thermal energy, acoustic energy, electromagnetic energy etcetera.

Access to energy in their various unique forms is not equally distributed due to the availability of these transducers. Goal 7 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals aims to correct this enormous imbalance by ensuring everyone has access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services by the year 2030. However, increased energy access may not always directly lead to improved livelihoods and economic development. The productive use of energy, therefore, is aimed at enhancing income generation opportunities and productivity. Examples include healthcare, agricultural, educational, business, and industrial activities that would not be possible without the input of energy.

In the paper titled “Productive Uses of Renewable Energy: A Review of Four Bank-GEF Projects”, Kamal Kapadia employs a broad definition of productive uses of energy as activities “that involve the utilization of energy, both electric and non-electric energy in the forms of heat or mechanical energy, for activities that enhance income and welfare. However, other specialists like Ron White define productive use of energy by taking into account only uses of energy that render outcomes that can be measured in monetary terms i.e. activities that involve the application of energy to create goods and/or services either directly or indirectly for the production of income or value.

In Malawi, productive use of electric energy is the basis for rural electrification programs like Malawi Rural Electrification Program (MAREP). However, productive usage of electric energy in rural setup has been slow due to absence of social programs that need to accompany MAREP projects in order to consolidate and optimize the social element that focuses on productivity with electric energy as the main input.

Lack of productive usage of energy has hampered growth in sectors like renewable energy due to high initial cost of investment in these technologies. Unfortunately, the market for such investments are very weak because end usage of the same is mostly limited to basic activities like lighting, barbershops, small scale agricultural activities etcetera.

If the electric energy industry in Malawi is to grow, there is need for multi-sectoral approach in harnessing productive use of energy in rural setting, which as it stands, remains the highest untapped potential currently sitting at approximately 88% of the population.

MALAWI’S GAPING NEED FOR A SMART GRID AMID COVID–19

Martgrid.gov describes the “grid” as a network of transmission lines, substations, transformers and more, that deliver electricity from the power plant to homes or businesses. In a case for Malawi, the grid is what one connects to when they plug any gadget to ESCOM power in their respective premises.

Figure 1: Illustration of a basic structure of an electricity grid in Malawi

What is a SMART Grid?

The “smart grid” on the other hand is an electric grid that uses information and communication technology (ICT) for SMART management of the grid to improve the communication, automation, control and connectivity of the various components of the power network. Some major elements of the smart grid are smart meters, renewable energy resources, and energy efficient resources. Smart meters and associated smart equipment permit electronic power conditioning and control of the production and distribution of electricity, over and above the two-way communication between the undertaker and consumer in real time or near real time. 

During the coronavirus pandemic, utility companies are under the obligation of ensuring that they continue operations, maintaining the electricity supply and critical services while not risking the wellbeing of their personnel and customers. The electric energy sector in Malawi is no exception in guaranteeing electric network reliability, availability, and efficiency at all times during this covid-19 pandemic. There is need, therefore, to have a grid that is self-diagnosing, self-healing, real-time, responsive, flexible, adaptive, price-smart, eco-sensitive and interconnected.

Our power network in Malawi is very wanting in terms of advancing to the smart status. Take northern region for instance, which is supplied by a single radial transmission network at 132KV that runs through Salima and Nkhotakota without any alternative route in the event of any system fault.

Figure 2: Malawi’s transmission network at 400KV and 132KV

The situation is so dire that even a simple fault like dislodging of a bolt anchoring a cross-arm for some power line structure would plunge the whole region into a blackout. Due to the unavailability of smart devices (or the availability of only “dumb” devices) to pin-point the exact location, it requires human involvement in the form of physically walking the line, including in the Nkhotakota wildlife reserve, in order to locate the exact point of fault before the reactive maintenance takes place to restore supply. Such scenarios present very long hours of power outages, sometimes up to more than 8 hours, because human beings have to travel long distances, sometimes as from as far as Mzuzu, for such functions.

A smart, self-diagnosing and above all, interconnected grid would ensure uninterrupted power supply and business continuity to areas like the region outlined above. One would argue that putting in place such smart systems would require huge capital investments. However, it is very evident that as a nation we are losing more money which evaporates into thin air due to these “dumb” power networks than what would be required if we invested in their “smart” counterparts.

NEED FOR ELECTRIC ENERGY DEMOCRATISATION IN MALAWI

The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) III places electric energy in the top three priority areas. However, 2018 Malawi Population and Housing Census Report shows that ESCOM is only able to service 453,592 households against 3,984,981 who are in dire need of electricity. The Government of Malawi believes that private investment is a solution to meet power sector goals.

Malawian rural communities face a disparity in terms of access to electric service provision due to geographical remoteness, high cost of grid connection, inability to pay for services, and limited access to providers of renewable energy solutions. The Malawi Energy Policy, however, promotes micro-grids as one way of accelerating electrification in locations where grid extension cannot be an economically viable electrification approach.  The Government of Malawi intends to increase installed electricity capacity to around 719 MW by 2020 and increase access to electricity to around 30% of the population by 2030. The government believes that with private sector participation in the power sector, the set targets in installed capacity and access to electricity are achievable.

The importance of supplying secure, equitable and environmentally sustainable energy to all in line with Goal 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be overemphasized. Failure to do so, with the sense of urgency that it deserves, will only serve to further strain the already crippled manufacturing base and general socio-economic development. In my eight-year stint with ESCOM, I have witnessed firsthand the benefits which energy brings at household, community and national level as well as the downside of this too.

Energy democracy is a novel concept, an emergent social movement, and a decision-making tool that connects energy infrastructural change with the possibilities for deep political, economic, and social change. Energy democracy has been characterized as involving three related but discrete approaches to facilitating renewable energy transformation; energy democracy includes efforts to resist, reclaim, and restructure energy systems. Resisting the legacy centralized energy systems is key to the energy democracy movement, as is reclaiming energy systems for more distributed economic and political benefits and restructuring energy systems to support the types of democratic relationships necessary for community-based decision-making authority (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2018.00043/full)