Escom in system upgrade
The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) is upgrading its Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (Scada) System to improve efficiency.
According to Escom’s public relations officer George Mituka, the Scada system which is one of the components in the United States of America (USA) Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) US$350.7 Compact is used to remotely monitor and control power supply network.
After the upgrade, the corporation expects improved power supply reliability in the country, in the sense that it will be easy to monitor and control transmission equipment in power transmission backbone and in most sub-stations.
In a statement signed by Escom’s Public Relations manager Innocent Chitosi, the corporation expects that the quality of supply will be improved as engineers will have instant control of system voltage and frequencies.
Reads the statement in part: “Under fault conditions, engineers will be able to immediately operate transmission equipment, and therefore will reduce down time. It will also help in planning and scheduling activities of the Electricity Market such as Demand Forecast, Day Ahead Market, Week Ahead Market, and according to the Market Rules. Scada therefore, brings significant savings in terms of time and money to Escom and better service delivery to customers.”
Speaking on Wednesday when he led a delegation on a visit to appreciate progress in the refurbishment of the Scada system at Escom’s National Control Centre in Blantyre, Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) board chairperson Right Reverend Joseph Bvumbwe expressed delight over the corporation’s efforts to improve better service delivery.
Bvumbwe promised Escom Management that Mera would do everything in its power to assist the corporation achieve its objectives.
The delegation also included Mera chief executive officer Collins Magalasi, Mera director of legal affairs Ishmael Chioko and other members of Mera Management.
