APPLICABLE SUBJECT: OFFGRID AND SPECIALISED APPLICATIONS
Title: Hybrid mini-grid energy systems – its contribution to an integrated approach to
sustainable development.
by
Mr Stefan Szewczuk
Division for Manufacturing and Materials
CSIR
P O Box 395
Pretoria, 0001
Tel: 012-841-2345
Fax: 012-841-4332
Email: sszewczu@csir.co.za
Cell: 082-453-1383
At the end of 2001 7million South African households had been electrified, i.e 80% of the urban
areas and 45% of the rural areas being electrified. To date 3.7 million households, mainly in the
rural areas, have yet to have access to electricity. For the South African Government to reach its
plan of universal access to energy and electricity by 2012 there will have to be a shift in emphasis
from the urban to the rural areas. Furthermore the emphasis in the past has been on the number of
electrical connections but in the future this emphasis will have to change to one that has a focus on
sustainable economic and social benefits.
The South African Government initiated the hybrid mini-grid project by mandating the National
Electricity Regulator to facilitate the piloting of such systems in the country.
The primary focus of this paper covers the CSIR’s contribution to the hybrid mini-grid initiative. This
paper discusses the CSIR’s development of an understanding of socio-economic development and
the paradigm shift in thinking that resulted in the need for a holistic and integrated approach to
address such development.
A brief overview will be given of projects that the CSIR undertook, as part of various consortia. One
of the larger projects was a 3 year investigative project with the primary objective of identifying
rural electrification opportunities using renewable energy linked to existing and new economic
activities. A description will also be given of the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to
be able to present and interpret results.
A review will be given of some of the results that were obtained with an emphasis on the wind
resource that was modelled for the Eastern Cape Province. At the time of undertaking this
modelling this was the most comprehensive work done on such a scale anywhere in the world.
This wind resource map for the Eastern Cape Province went a long way to fill a large gap in the
knowledge of South Africa’s wind resource. See Figure 1.
Figure 1 Estimated wind speeds at 60 meters
The paper will also discuss the CSIR’s involvement in South Africa’s first hybrid mini-grid at
Hluleka Nature Reserve on the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape Province. A brief description will
also be given of some of the new economic activities that are being undertaken in association with
the hybrid mini-grid initiative.
Figure 2 below shows the 2 wind turbines that form part of the hybrid mini-grid at Hluleka Nature
Reserve.
ABRIDGED CIRRICULUM VITAE
Curriculum Vitae:
Stefan Szewczuk
Nationality:
Professional Training:
Specialisation:
South African
Mechanical Engineering
Gas turbines, renewable & alternative energy, integrated
energy modelling
CSIR
Project Manager
Organisation:
Position in Organisation:
CORE SKILLS
Business development: Renewable & Alternative Energy
Consulting:
Energy & water treatment
Research:
Integrated Energy Modelling
WORK EXPERIENCE
April 1999 – present : Project Manager: Manufacturing SMME Development
1995 - 1999:
Project Manager: Technology for Development
1992 – 1995:
Project Manager: Turbomachines
1987 – 1992:
Manager: Turbo Design & Analysis
1983 – 1987:
Senior Research Officer
EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS
BSc Mechanical Engineering (Aeronautical option): Univ. of Witwatersrand 1980
MSc Mechanical Engineering:
Univ. of Witwatersrand 1988
Masters in Business Administration:
Heriot-Watt University 1997
CURRENT COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
Member of the Solar Energy Society of South Africa (SESSA)
Member of South African National Energy Association (SANEA)