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.