RURAL ELECTRIFICATION Standardisation and Quality of Supply

1. RURAL ELECTRIFICATIONStandardisation and Quality of Supply Presentation to UPDEA February 2009 By Rob Stephen

2. STANDARDS REQUIRED • Standards and specifications for line fittings, transformers, poles, components etc. • Standards for Planning methods, voltage levels etc. • Standards and specifications for control plant components, (relays, fuses) • Standards for application of control plant, (relay settings, fuse application) 2

3. PROCESS REQUIRED • Process is as important as the standards and specifications • Change control process to allow for new ideas and changes to specifications and standards to be introduced in a controlled way • Project management process to take the project from a concept stage to commissioning stage • Maintenance process to ensure sustainability • Operations process to ensure availability of supply 3

4. ADDITIONAL PROCESSES • Business plan process to allow for 5 year long term plans to be in place • Rolling plan process to review plan for present and following year every 3 months • Centralised allocation process for funding to ensure optimal use of resources 4

5. QUALITY OF SUPPLY • Two aspects need to be considered • SAIDI – amount of time each customer is out per annum • SAIFI – amount of times each customer is interrupted per annum • SAIDI depends on • Type of fault and location (number of customers affected) • Time to locate fault • Time to isolate fault • Time to repair fault and restore power • SAIFI depends on • Type and application of standards • Ability of standards to withstand environmental forces. 5

6. IMPROVEMENT OF QoS • SAIDI • Automatic fault location and isolation systems • Staff available for quick dispatch to clearly defined areas • Shorten staff travel time • Standard equipment • Well trained linesman • SAIFI • Well constructed networks • Well developed and applied standards and specifications • Well co-ordinated relay settings and fuse settings 6

7. INTEGRATION • Need to integrate processes in order to apply standards and specifications, as well as link QoS requirements into the initial design and implementation • One component cannot operate on its own without the other 7

8. ESKOM – LESSONS LEARNT • Eskom has all processes, specifications, standards, philosophies etc available to all for a small annual registration fee • At present Eskom is suffering from substandard quality construction over many years as well as long radial feeds with few isolation points • As a result SAIDI and SAIFI are well below international standards and requirements • Large effort required to improve QoS • Main lesson learnt is that QoS was not integrated up front. However, if it was, it is unlikely that 300 000 connnections would have been done per annum due to funding constraints. 8

9. CONCLUSION • Do not develop standards in isolation • Ensure processes in place to optimally use the standards as well as change control to ensure continued optimisation and innovation • Include impact on QoS in up front planning of networks as well as standards and specifications to ensure good supply quality is maintained • Eskom is willing to assist in distributing documentation 9

10. Thank You !! 10