Doctor’s solution for load shedding
CAUGHT in the icy grip of winter, the last thing South Africans want is load shedding, which is why Stellenbosch University graduate Dr Jancke Eygelaar has come up with a plan for power utilities to satisfy energy demand in SA .
Eygelaar, who recently obtained his doctorate in industrial engineering studied the power supply system as part of his doctoral research and determined that power supply can be influenced significantly by unexpected breakdowns of power-generating units.
Eygelaar said that one way to prevent the risk of load shedding and the breakdown of units is to have a proper and adequate schedule for the maintenance of power-generating units. He said the reliability of the units become compromised depending on how long they’ve been in operation.
Eygelaar explained that the elective scheduling of planned maintenance of power units is a considerable challenge for any power utility. This is why he developed a computerised decision support system that can provide an operations manager with good maintenance schedules for power-generating units based on scheduling criteria.
“In most cases, unexpected failures are more expensive to repair than taking planned preventative maintenance action. Maintenance of ageing power-generating units is, however, often neglected due to high energy demand and low system capacity, as seen in the case of Eskom.
“The decision support system will provide employees with information regarding available capacity of the system and the demand of the system over the scheduling window, as well as information on the manpower required,” said Eygelaar.
The support system helps the user to make informative decisions and to identify and solve complex procedures.
It does this when data is prepared and uploaded on to the system which then recommends good generator maintenance schedules for the power system through a graphical user interface.
Eygelaar said his study took into account the demand of a system, as well as other factors, and aimed to schedule preventative maintenance on generators which have a high probability of causing load shedding.
As part of his doctoral research, Eygelaar put forward two new scheduling criteria that optimise the maintenance scheduling. The first criterion involves minimising the risk of a power-generating unit failing, while the second involves maximising energy production during a scheduling window.
THE SUPPORT SYSTEM HELPS THE USER TO MAKE INFORMATIVE DECISIONS