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Mini-Symposium on the role of UFS Grid Related Research

27 September 2021 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied

Jacques web read more — Dr Jacques Maritz, a lecturer at the UFS Department of Engineering Sciences (EnSci), recently hosted and chaired a mini-symposium on the role of UFS Grid Related Research.

During 2020 the University of the Free State (UFS) Qwaqwa campus experienced a loss of electricity supply for 10% of the year which led to emergency generation costs reaching R1.2-million.

This is one of the problems Dr Jacques Maritz, a lecturer at the UFS Department of Engineering Sciences (EnSci), and the UFS Grid Related Research group are looking to address with their research on green and sustainable digital transformation efforts of local campus power grids.

Dr Maritz recently hosted and chaired a mini-symposium on the role of UFS Grid Related Research during which research strategies, visions and missions were shared by different research groups. These groups included the UFS Grid Related Research Group (presented by Dr Maritz), the UFS Initiative for Digital Futures (presented by Mr Herkulaas Combrink and Prof Katinka de Wet, both interim directors) and the Block Chain Research Group (presented by Mr Riaan Bezuidenhout, a PhD student at the Department of Computer Science and Informatics).

Dr More Manda, on behalf of merSETA strategy and research, presented its strategic priorities for the next couple of years, which included the observation to drive the development of Digital and Green Skills. Mr Nicolaas Esterhuysen, from UFS Department of University Estates, also presented a live demonstration of the current state of the UFS smart grid. Industry partners presented a synopsis of their efforts and products pertaining to the evolution of digital and green campus grids.

The symposium highlighted the existing synergies and visions

The symposium boasted an international keynote by Dr Veselin Skendzic (locally supported by Mr Deon Joubert, SEL), a principal research engineer with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc (SEL), on the detection of power grid faults using the phenomena of travelling waves.

“The symposium highlighted the existing synergies and visions shared between UFS research groups, our industry partners and funders. An innovative model of industry engagement via shared case studies and technical papers, with emphasis on local campus grids, was explored and discussed.

“The UFS Initiative for Digital Futures placed emphasis on the value-add of multidisciplinary research teams when attempting to solve the most critical social problems, especially in the South African digital paradigm. One of the notable successes of this symposium was that it provided a platform for several research groups within the paradigms of science, engineering and social sciences to synchronise with industry and showcase their expertise towards the effort of creating green and sustainable campus grids,” says Dr Martiz.

Mr Nicolaas Esterhuysen, from UFS Department of University Estates, also presented a live demonstration
of the current state of the UFS smart grid. (Photo:Supplied)

According to him, the critical discussions observed during the symposium aim towards future efforts that include working more closely with industry partners and leveraging internal collaborations in order to advance the digitalisation, optimisation, reliability and research-readiness associated with campus grids. The latter is also part of the mandate of the UFS Grid Related Research Group to build local research instruments that will serve a wider community of scientist and engineers.

Additional benefit

An additional benefit of a fully digitally twinned campus grid is the value-add of the corresponding data lake, an entity that will serve the establishment of new frontiers in digital R&D exchanges, governed by the appropriate digital ethics, says Dr Maritz.

He continues: “The UFS is in a unique position to compete in the Digital Futures paradigm, with emphasis on its ability to generate innovative digital backbones to serve multidisciplinary research interactions between internal research groups and industry, with unique contributions generated in the field of digital training. The UFS Grid Related Research Group has also been receiving valuable support, training, and guidance from the Emerging Scholars Accelerator Programme (ESAP), led by Dr Henriëtte Van Den Berg, including mentorship by Prof Pieter Meintjes, senior professor at the Department of Physics, UFS.

“This symposium was part of the engagement efforts by the UFS Grid Related Research Group as the main driver of the merSETA funded UFS project for Digital and Data Engineering, which is closely affiliated with the initiative for Digital Futures.”

News Archive

SRC elections: A first for UFS main campus

2005-08-14

Students on the main campus of the of the University of the Free State (UFS) will this week for the first time vote for the Student Representative Council (SRC) using two voting systems: proportional representation (PR) and first-past-the-post.

According to the Vice-Rector, Student Affairs, Dr Ezekiel Moraka, this year’s elections are a milestone for the UFS as it will be the first time that the main campus SRC will be elected according to the amended SRC constitution, which was approved by the UFS Council in June 2005.

“It is also a major breakthrough for student governance and transformation of the UFS main campus and constitutes a legitimate basis for the democratic participation of all students at the UFS main campus in the governance of the university,” said Dr Moraka.

The amended constitution of the main campus SRC determines that nine of the 18 SRC members must be elected by means of proportional representation and nine on the basis of an individual, first-past-the-post election.

According to Dr Moraka, the introduction of the proportional representation system follows earlier calls by some student formations, notably Sasco and the ANC Youth League, for such a system to be introduced at the UFS main campus in Bloemfontein.

The new main campus SRC constitution is the result of consensus reached during a lengthy negotiation process involving diverse student formations such as Sasco, the ANC Youth League, the Young Communist League, the ACDP, HEREXVII, KovsieAlliance, as well as the democratically elected SRC members of the main campus.

“Independent persons such as Mr Jack Klaas and Mr Kobus van Loggerenberg, a former SRC President, facilitated the negotiation process,” said Dr Moraka.

Students on the main campus in Bloemfontein will vote for a new SRC on Monday 15 August 2005.

SRC elections will also take place on the other two campuses of the UFS, which have their own SRC structures.

Students on the UFS-Vista campus in Bloemfontein will vote for a new SRC on Monday 15 August 2005 and Tuesday 16 August 2005.

At the Qwaqwa campus of the UFS, students will vote for a new SRC on Friday 26 August 2005.

The election processes on all three campuses will be closely monitored by independent electoral bodies.

After the three campuses have elected their respective SRCs a central SRC will be constituted. The central SRC will have 12 members made up of delegates of the three campus SRCs, including the presidents of these three SRCs. The main campus will have five representatives, the Qwaqwa campus will have four representatives and the Vista campus will have three representatives.

Main campus voting schedule:
Monday 15 August 2005 from 07:00-21:00. Ten voting stations will be set up across the campus. The results will be announced on Tuesday 16 August 2005.

Vista campus voting schedule:
Monday 15 August 2005 and Tuesday 16 August 2005 from 09:00-18:00 in the administration building. The results will be announced on Wednesday 17 August 2005.

Qwaqwa campus voting schedule:
Friday 26 August 2005 from 09:00-18:00 in the Senate Hall. If there is no objection to the final results, it will be announced on the same day.

Media release

Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel: (051) 401-2584
   Cell: 083 645 2454
   E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za

14 August 2005

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