Eskom Distribution has outlined how digitalisation and advanced network management systems could underpin South Africas transition to active, decentralised electricity networks.
Presenting a paper at the 12th CIGRE Southern Africa Regional Conference in Pretoria recently, Eskom Chief Engineer Shamir Newalani said the rise of distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar and battery systems, is transforming the countrys historically one-directional distribution networks into dynamic, bidirectional systems.
He said the traditional distribution network operator model focused mainly on power delivery needs to evolve into a distribution system operator DSO framework capable of managing data, market participation and customer interaction in real time. Systems such as distributed energy resource management, advanced distribution management, outage management and smart metering are central to this shift.