A webinar was organized by IEEE PES Nigeria Chapter on “Metering Challenges and Solutions in Off Grid Environment”. The Webinar Speaker and moderator were

Speaker 1: Engr. Tolu Collins
Speaker 2:  Mr. Hussain Hassan
Speaker 3: Engr. Isaac Adekanye

Moderator: Engr. Abdullateef Aliyu

The Moderator of the webinar, Engr. Abdullateef Aliyu appreciated the kind presence (virtual) of Dignitaries, Leaders, Ambassadors and members from all over the world, especially global participation from Nigeria, UK, Ireland, India, Pakistan, Germany etc.

On the main theme of the webinar, Engr. Tolu Collins made a presentation. He is an electrical/electronics engineer with vast experience in the field of embedded systems design which he has applied in the design of electricity meters and other metering solutions. He is a key player with MOMAS in the design of the first indeginous electricity meter for the Nigerian market.

The second speaker Mr. Hussain Hassan explained the IEEE PES Benefits and Opportunities. The third speaker Engr. Isaac Adekanye gave an overview of the Nigerian Chapter and explained the benefits of being a member of IEEE.

The highlights of the main technical talk are given below:

• Energy theft is the greatest threat to metering efficiency
• Remote locations could make physical monitoring costly
• Meters should offer theft detection and recording
• AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) can offer real time energy analysis to detect abnormal energy patterns, and tamper reporting
• Metering is a tool, revenue collection is the goal
• Metering solution should be chosen based on the pre-defined revenue collection model
• Revenue collection model will consider many factors
• Prepaid or postpaid billing
• Payment options (remote, mobile, POS, etc) considering the peculiarities of the region
• The type of meter to be installed based on desired features, and the scale of the project
• Monitoring is very important for metering system efficiency
• Monitoring provides useful data on energy consumption trends
• Monitoring is key to ensure the physical state of the metering installation is untampered
• Some maintenance may be required so physical inspection can not always be ruled out
• Smart metering however can help to reduce the frequency of monitoring required while also providing rich data
• Load profiling
• Energy audit
• Customer consumption patterns

ENHANCEMENT PANEL

• A mini substation for distribution network
• Uses smart breakers instead of fuses to enable remote resetting of the breaker incase of a fault rather than buying a new fuse
• Power factor correction using capacitor banks
• ATS for automatic switching between two grid sources (works well with the dual-tariff meter)
• Optional metering for each upriser
• Electrical fault protection including short circuit, over load, earth leakage etc
• Remote access to all reading and functions of the panel
• Ensures reliable energy supply with minimal technical losses

The webinar ended with a Vote of Thanks by the BOT Member- Engr. Tunde Salihu.

Engr. Oto-obong Effiong
IEEE PES Nigeria Chapter