The presentation of an Inaugural lecture is a significant milestone in the academic career of a full professor. It provides a platform to share past research and spark new debates that will bring solutions to the current challenges.  

The Central University of Technology hosted the Professorial Inaugural Lecture presented by one of our distinguished academics and an NRF rated scientist, Prof. Kanzumba Kusakana.  

Prof. Kusakana presented on Optimal energy management of hybrid multisource energy systems using the political, operational, economic, and technical approach on energy efficiency- simply called the poet approach, where he defined energy efficiency as the ratio between the energy input and output and focused on the use of traditional power plants and solar energy as a solution to the worldwide increase on energy demand. 

Prof. Alfred Ngowi, acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal said that the topic discussed is relevant to the university’s vision, as CUT aspires to be amongst leading institutions in renewable energy solutions.  “We see opportunities for investment in this area with the purpose of expanding our knowledge and research while addressing the challenge between the supply and demand of energy.” 

Kusakana shared his research and academic milestones as well as introducing new ideas with the intention of conceiving and developing innovative solutions.  He further elaborated on the entire POET component of energy efficiency as well as the optimal management of hybrid sources of energy system using the POET approach. He explained the acronym POET as: P-performance efficiency, O-operations efficiency, E-equipment efficiency, and T-technology efficiency.

“Technology efficiency can be defined as a measure of the efficiency of energy process transmission or usage. Equipment is the measure of the energy output of isolated individual energy equipment with respect to the given technology design and specification. Performance is the measure of energy efficiency determined by external but deterministic system indicators while Operations is a system-wide measure that is evaluated by considering the proper coordination of different system components.”

He mentioned four projects with some of his students and colleagues. The four projects include the Optimal operation control of hybrid renewable energy systems, Optimal operation of hybrid renewable system with hydro pump storage, Optimal energy in water heating, cooling and air conditioning systems and Optimal peer-to-peer energy sharing between prosumers.

 “With the optimal operation control of hybrid, we have different renewable energy resources, which we would like to control in a way that we reduce operational cost to maximise the renewable energy. In terms of optimal operation of a hybrid renewable system with hydro pump storage, we looked at renewable energy and storing energy using water. The third project, which is optimal energy in water heating, cooling and air conditioning systems, aims to minimise the electric elements energy usage that is coming from the grid and maximise the free energy that is coming from the sun. Our last project, optimal peer-to-peer energy sharing between prosumers- is aimed at sharing energy amongst peers. If everyone has some solar PV when they generate electricity and they don’t use it, they can sell it to their neighbour instead of the neighbour getting power from Eskom.”

Summing up his presentation, Prof. Kusakana said that an optimal control approach is a powerful tool that can be used to solve energy management problems. Optimal control and POET are applied to the energy management of hybrid multisource energy systems. “We did that using mathematical modelling and simulation and the main objective was the operation cost while we try to minimise the operation cost and maximise renewable energy resources.”

Caption

From left: Prof. Kanzumba Kusakana with his family Nanousha (wife) two daughters, Kenithia and Elani, as well as Prof. Samson Mashele, acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement.