BPC Starts Installing Smart Meters

THATO MOSEKI
Correspondent | Monday November 23, 2009 00:00

When fully rolled-out, the corporation experts believe the smart meters could save the national grid 40 Megawatts (MW). This is a considerable saving given that presently the country's sole power producer pumps out about 130 MW of energy.

Recently, BPC began installing smart meters in Gaborone Block 7, under the newly launched Hot Water Load Control (HWLC) Project. The main objective of the project is to manage customers' hot water loads (geysers) as a way of controlling demand especially during the two daily peak periods. The HLWC consists of a central system at BPC offices, data concentrators installed at transformers and smart meters and geyser contractors which will be installed in customers' houses.

The smart meters will communicate with the central system through a hybrid communication channel (GPRS and PLC). BPC officials have said they expect that 500 meters will be installed in Block 7 this month in the first phase of HWLC. The phase will be followed by a two-month evaluation and assessment period, during which BPC and its technical partners will gauge the strength of the HWLC for wider implementation.

It is expected that the HWLC will be rolled out to the rest of Gaborone, Francistown, Selebi- Phikwe, Lobatse and Jwaneng.

'The project will be rolled out to other areas in Gaborone by mid February 2010 before moving to other towns. The HWLC project is expected to be complete in all the five towns by mid June 2010. Specific implementation dates will be communicated to customers in the affected areas as the project progresses,' officials said.

The HWLC system will manage power supply through remote geyser control, load curtailment and remote disconnection-reconnection of supply to selected customer groups. Groups targeted for the smart meters include customers in the residential and small business categories like small shops, butcheries, bottle stores and hair salons.

Once installed and fully operational, the HWLC system will enable the BPC to switch off geysers for customers during peak periods when demand exceeds supply.  Should the switching off prove inadequate, the smart meters can be remotely configured to limit power supply to required levels. The level of load limit will be determined by the extent of supply constraint being experienced.

The smart meters will enable the BPC to remotely switch off power to selected areas only when severe supply constraints are being experienced. BPC officials hailed the new system saying it had numerous advantages over the present system and methods being used. It is said smart meters will give the corporation flexibility in terms of offering prepaid or post-paid solutions to customers through their ability to function in either mode. The new system will promptly report existence of faults in the network and BPC crews will be able to respond quickly without having to wait for customers to phone. The system allows automatic reconnection and disconnection for change of tenancy and non-payment.

The HWLC system will eliminate the need to estimate bills as meters will be read remotely. When operating in prepaid mode, the new system will allow both remote and manual upload of credit into the meter.

Besides the HWLC and other demand side interventions, the BPC has several medium to long-term projects designed to ensure power is not interrupted when South Africa's Eskom withdraws its supplies to the country next year.

These include the expansion of Morupule Power Station by 600 MW initially and another 600 MW possibly by 2012, power from the Mmamabula Energy Project and more supplies from the Wescor Project through northern Democratic Republic of Congo.

In the interim, Eskom and power utilities in Mozambique are complementing Morupule's supplies to Botswana. A local Independent Power Producer is also putting the finishing touches on a 250 MW gas-fired power station for the BPC. Botswana is looking at Zimbabwe for possible interim supplies.