A software based distribution design methodology supporting rural electrification in South Africa

Since 1993, South Africa´s national power utility, Eskom, has been carrying out an ambitious rural electrification programme. Over 1000 new domestic connections are being made per day, mostly in remote rural areas. Mass electrification has thrown up numerous challenges. One of these has been the need to develop appropriate design methodologies. This paper describes a novel design approach based on integrated software tools, which encourage the designer to seek optimality by freeing him or her from as many routine, repetitive and time consuming tasks as possible. The designer can generate a complete and detailed design option within a few hours, rather than several days, as is the case when `manual´ methods are used. This allows him to explore the solution space, thus finding better and cheaper configurations