A review of energy and gender poverty in South Africa

Abstract: About 15% of South African households lack access to electricity from the mains, most of which are found in the rural areas and informal settlements. This energy poor population consist 57% women and 43% men; hence, women are more energy poor than men in the country. Energy poverty has led to gender poverty as women and girls are faced with the task of collecting and using firewood and other unclean energy sources to meet their households’ energy needs, which exposes them to challenges such as health hazards, premature deaths, time poverty, etc. mainly from the indoor air pollution. The challenges facing grid extension to unelectrified areas contribute to energy poverty and consequently, gender poverty for women and girls. Hence, there is need to explore modern, clean, reliable and affordable electricity through decentralised renewable energy sources, with accompanying policies, in order to mitigate energy and gender poverty in South Africa

Smart Energy Management for Smart Grids

This book is a contribution from the authors, to share solutions for a better and sustainable power grid. Renewable energy, smart grid security and smart energy management are the main topics discussed in this book

Mitigating household energy poverty through energy expenditure affordability algorithm in a smart grid

Abstract: One of the criteria for measuring household energy poverty is the percentage of the household’s income spent on energy expenses. In this work, an autonomous income-based energy scheduling Demand Side Management (DSM) technique called Energy Expenditure Affordability Algorithm (EEAA) is proposed to ensure that household energy expenditure is below nation’s approved energy expenditure threshold. The EEAA problem was formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem and verified with real household data. Consumer preferences and satisfaction were enhanced by using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) technique to minimize the distance between nominal and EEAA load profiles. Furthermore, the effect of Distributed Energy Generation (DEG) and Distributed Energy Storage (DES) were also investigated in the light of energy expenditure affordability for improved consumer-friendly and satisfying DSM. The EEAA- DSM technique is shown to reduce household energy expenditure below the energy expenditure threshold, offer energy expenditure affordability and utility grid Peak Demand Reduction (PDR). Also, grid reliability and sustainability, environmental preservation and gendered energy poverty are consequential benefits of the EEAA. It also offered the households considered an average financial savings from 12% to 82% depending on the level of implementation of distributed storage and generation to the consumer’s local energy mix

Solar-powered Smart Irrigation System

Abstract: South Africa is a country currently facing water and electricity crises due to the unmatched demand and supply of these utilities. In irrigation systems, there is a high rate of water wastage since watering can sometimes take place when it is not necessary especially in the traditional irrigation system. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is an enabler of the transition from traditional to automated irrigation systems. A smart irrigation system that is powered by solar energy was designed and implemented in this work to optimize the consumption of water and electricity in irrigation processes. The device is designed for manual and automatic operations with communication through a Bluetooth module. Experiments were conducted and the results obtained showed that the device offered 25.2% and 57.8% of savings in water usage and energy expenditure respectively compared to a situation without the proposed system

Maximum power point tracking for solar laptop chargers

Abstract: Off-grid energy solution is becoming a necessity in our country with the unstable electricity supply from the utility provider. Laptop is an essential electronic appliance for individuals, schools and businesses, which you can’t afford to be down on power. Remote areas are often challenged by consistent interrupted power supply, thereby delaying or hindering certain work that needs to be done with laptops. Hence, off-grid solar energy solutions is proposed to charge laptop batteries and various electronics with similar specifications for remote area dwellers. However, solar panels are very inefficient when directly connected to load. Therefore, application of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and pulse width modulation (PWM) to connect solar panels to laptop charger is presented in this work. This was achieved in this work through simulation and hardware implementation

An automatic vehicle accident detection and rescue system

Abstract: Human loss by road accidents has been a devastating issue, which possess negative implications on the socio-economic development of the societies. Most developing countries are recording higher volumes of fatalities whenever a road accident occurs due to the lack of a proper and quick system that reports accidents to the emergency services for an immediate rescue. Moreover, the chances of survival of any casualty of an accident is mostly dependent on how quick the emergency medical services arrive at the scene and quickly reaches the nearest hospital with the victims for treatment. However, these emergency vehicles are sometimes delayed by heavy traffic en route to and from the accident scene. This paper introduces a robust automatic vehicle accident detection and alert system, which uses an accelerometer to detect the tilting and the crashing of the vehicle, sends the Global Positioning System (GPS) location of the accident scene to intended security, medical and family contacts. The proposed design achieved a turnaround response, which is faster than conventional rescue system without these features. Hence, saving more lives as possible through technology

Design of an automatic hybrid water heating system

Abstract: Electrical water heaters accounts for about 30-50% of energy consumption and expenditure in residential premises. Hence, the need to seek for an alternative way to meet this essential demand of consumers through affordable and environmental-friendly methods. Therefore, an automatic hybrid water heating system (AHWHS) is proposed in this work, using power supply from either the utility grid or an installed solar panel depending on certain factors such as availability and cost of solar resource, availability and cost of utility grid supply, water demand by consumers, energy storage capacity, tariff, etc. The AHWHS was designed and constructed by charging a battery from either the utility grid or solar panel, which then provides electric power to a direct current coil element to heat up the water needed for use in the home. The AHWHS was found to reduce household energy expenditure by 68.33% and 71.59% during low and high demand seasons respectively

Optimization of energy expenditure in smart homes under Time-of-Use pricing

Abstract: Growing peak demand has necessitated the introduction of Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing to Demand Side Management (DSM) in order to cause some peak demand to be shifted from peak to off-peak periods. Therefore, in this work, a Daily Maximum Energy Scheduling (DMES) - DSM technique is proposed. The DMES-DSM device is proposed to be installed into consumers’ smart meters and schedule energy consumption for smart appliances. The DMES–DSM technique was verified with real household data and shown to be capable of optimizing households’ monthly energy expenditure below approved national energy expenditure threshold and also offer Peak Demand Reduction (PDR). It offered the household considered an average monthly financial savings of 22.44% and 36.73% in summer and winter respectively on electricity bills. Utility can also benefit from the PDR for grid stability and sustainability. Also, the optimized consumption pattern differs only slightly from initial consumption pattern for enhanced consumer satisfaction

Distributed demand side management with battery storage for smart home energy scheduling

Abstract: The role of Demand Side Management (DSM) with Distributed Energy Storage (DES) has been gaining attention in recent studies due to the impact of the latter on energy management in the smart grid. In this work, an Energy Scheduling and Distributed Storage (ESDS) algorithm is proposed to be installed into the smart meters of Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing consumers possessing in-home energy storage devices. Source of energy supply to the smart home appliances was optimized between the utility grid and the DES device depending on energy tariff and consumer demand satisfaction information. This is to minimize consumer energy expenditure and maximize demand satisfaction simultaneously. The ESDS algorithm was found to offer consumer-friendly and utility-friendly enhancements to the DSM program such as energy, financial, and investment savings, reduced/eliminated consumer dissatisfaction even at peak periods, Peak-to-Average-Ratio (PAR) demand reduction, grid energy sustainability, socio-economic benefits, and other associated benefits such as environmental-friendliness

Distributed optimisation algorithm for demand side management in a grid-connected smart microgrid

Abstract: The contributions of Distributed Energy Generation (DEG) and Distributed Energy Storage (DES) for Demand Side Management (DSM) purposes in a smart macrogrid or microgrid cannot be over-emphasised. However, standalone DEG and DES can lead to under-utilisation of energy generation by consumers and financial investments; in grid-connection mode, though, DEG and DES can offer arbitrage opportunities for consumers and utility provider(s). A grid-connected smart microgrid comprising heterogeneous (active and passive) smart consumers, electric vehicles and a large-scale centralised energy storage is considered in this paper. Efficient energy management by each smart entity is carried out by the proposed Microgrid Energy Management Distributed Optimisation Algorithm (MEM-DOA) installed distributively within the network according to consumer type. Each smart consumer optimises its energy consumption and trading for comfort (demand satisfaction) and profit. The proposed model was observed to yield better consumer satisfaction, higher financial savings, and reduced Peak-to-Average-Ratio (PAR) demand on the utility grid. Other associated benefits of the model include reduced investment on peaker plants, grid reliability and environmental benefits. The MEM-DOA also offered participating smart consumers energy and tariff incentives so that passive smart consumers do not benefit more than active smart consumers, as was the case with some previous energy management algorithms