Eaton Africa will be highlighting how it enables the drive to provide reliable and sustainable electricity access for all during the upcoming African Utility Week Conference, taking place from 14 to 16 May 2019 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).  

The annual event brings together the continent’s leading power, energy and water professionals, offering insights into smart strategies to deliver clean, sustainable electricity to the African continent. With an expected audience of around 10 000 delegates from over 85 countries, the event will provide a comprehensive end-to-end focus on power that includes generation, transmission and distribution, new technologies, and water management.

Seydou Kane, Eaton South Africa’s Managing Director will join other executives within the power and energy sector for the Utility CEO Forum, in which they will discuss utilities’ operational challenges, particularly in a fast-developing market.

“Our key objective is to enable broad access to energy-efficient solutions to Africa that help consumers manage power in a safe, cost efficient and sustainable manner,” Kane says.

Eaton’s Senior Application Leader in Microgrid Energy Systems, Bunty Kiremire, will moderate the ‘Renewables on the Grid’ session, under the Smart Energy strategic programme. He leads the execution of the company’s strategy for MicroGrid Energy Systems on the African continent, a strategy that was spearheaded by Eaton’s award-winning microgrid at its BBBEE1 rated headquarters and manufacturing facility in Wadeville, Johannesburg. The system uses behind the meter Energy Storage and Solar power to reduce the company’s carbon emissions and overall energy costs by as much as over 50%.

“Innovations in energy storage, and microgrid technology that incorporate renewables are especially important to Africa, where energy access levels average 42%, with some countries having access rates as low as 15% of the overall population,” Kiremire says. “Further, most commercial, industrial and residential customers who do have access to energy still face issues with respect to the availability and resilience of power. Microgrid Energy Systems that incorporate energy storage and renewable energy can be effectively used to address the issues of access, resiliency and cost of energy that the continent now faces.”

Eaton’s Business Development Manager for Eaton in the Power Division, Marcel Buckner will deliver a presentation under the Transmission and Distribution Knowledge Hub programme titled “Striving for maximum safety and continuity of supply in MV substations”. The focus will be on improving efficiencies and planning for expansion.

Eaton is also sponsoring the Power Award category during the awards evening on 15 May 2019 and will also host an exhibition stand - G32A - where it will demonstrate its range of smart solutions.