From a rural and underserved market perspective, attending African Utility Week (AUW) is a unique opportunity to gain a broad overview of the smart technologies in the pipeline for African utilities. Attending for the second time and presenting at a session on rural electrification and the role of mobile to support decentralised energy solutions, was telling of the shifting focus of the sector in line with metering.com editor’s insights from AUW: “African utility executives have vision with one prophesising the death of the electricity grid in favour of microgrids and battery storage”.
What has changed since last year at AUW?
Quite a lot: from the growing presence and interest of the United States (through the Power Africa initiative) in the sector, to the increasing focus on investments and making utilities sustainable businesses.
Water management: to be smart or not to be
However, water metering solutions remain an under-developed topic, with few case studies demonstrating the success of smart metering in the water sector in the Sub-Saharan region. Yet the opportunity is significant: 300 million people do not have access to clean and safe water in Sub-Saharan Africa 1 and, according to a 2013 global survey 2, data from smart water networks can save utilities up to US$12.5 billion per year and help balance supply and demand. As highlighted in one of our reports, “using mobile channels such as GSM Machine to Machine communication to monitor water pumps remotely, can catalyse the development of more transparent and responsive services for the communities often lacking access to formal energy, banking and water.” SeeSaw, one of our Phase 1 grantees, presented their ICT-led approach to improving water access, explaining the pros and cons of post-paid mobile meter reading systems, while maintaining non-smart (human intervention) parts of the value chain.
“How Mobile can help improve energy access in Africa”
This was the theme of my presentation, as part of a wider discussion on “Rural Electrification: realising universal access across Africa”. Following presentations from Botswana Power Corporation and Tunisia STEG International Services, two unique utilities which function as rural electrification subsidiaries (usually utilities hand the responsibility over to their government), I introduced how mobile technologies can help improve energy access, notably through the use of mobile money bill payment services or GSM machine to machine technology, that allow remote monitoring and control, leveraging some of the findings from our report on mobile smart solutions. Despite a novice audience, the message was well received with most of the participants at the end of the discussion agreeing that Mobile Network Operators could become valuable partners in optimizing utilities’ management systems (e.g. data or customer relations management and billing).
Are decentralised solutions the future for universal energy access?
Beyond the use of mobile, decentralised energy solutions for underserved areas are increasingly understood as the way forward to guarantee energy access for all. While much of the conference focused on new technology for urban, electrified settings, much of the African continent is still battling with the need for energy access: in Sub-Saharan Africa ~600 million people do not have access to electricity.
The fact that the rural electrification session was full might reflect the importance of maintaining – if not growing – the focus of this topic and discussing viable alternatives to the grid in areas that do not plan to see power lines in the coming decade or two.
1. https://www.gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/connectivity-for-good/mobile-for-development/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Sizing-the-Opportunity-of-Mobile_Nov-2013.pdf
2. From Sensus’ presentation at African Utility Week on “Smart water systems – using the network”