Energy services companies (ESCOs) typically implement energy management systems (EMSs) as part of Demand-Side Management (DSM) projects on South African mines. After DSM project completion, the mine becomes responsible for maintaining the performance of the EMS. Due to a lack of experience in using specialised EMSs, mines typically contract ESCOs for EMS maintenance. However, maintaining a large number of EMSs remotely is a resource-intensive task because of time wasted on daily monitoring and travelling to perform on-site maintenance. For the same reason, remote maintenance technologies have become widely used to maintain cellular devices, vehicles and industrial equipment. Mine EMSs typically control production-critical systems that in turn ensure safe working conditions underground. EMSs execute highly specialised control philosophies to achieve electrical energy management, while ensuring safe and productive system operation. None of the work done on remote maintenance, however, provides an integrated solution to maintain the performance of a growing number of these specialised EMSs. As part of this study, a supervisory system was developed to optimise remote maintenance of different EMS technologies. The supervisory system builds on the fundamentals of existing remote maintenance technologies, complemented by comprehensive diagnostics of specialised EMS technologies. This is possible through automated diagnostics of EMS components, the control philosophy and overall EMS performance. Maintenance management forms part of the supervisory system to ensure that maintenance is performed with optimal efficiency. A system implementation was executed to prove the feasibility of the supervisory system. The functional operation of the system was verified with pre-set scenarios that simulated day-to-day operation and common fault diagnostic events. As part of the case studies conducted for this thesis, the supervisory system was integrated with three distinct EMS technologies implemented on South African mines. To support the results of these case studies, the system validation was extended through integrations with seven additional EMSs. For the first time, a supervisory assessed the condition of the EMS components, the control philosophy and DSM performance comprehensively. The results (obtained over a period of more than six months) indicated that the average operational availability of EMS components improved from 90% to 97%. The average EMS performance improved from 1.8 MW to 2.5 MW, an improvement of 39%. The resulting electricity cost reduction achieved on the case studies accumulated to approximately R6 million during the respective assessment periods. The supervisory system facilitated efficient EMS maintenance, thus reducing the risk of unsafe working conditions and production interruptions. The system also allowed maintenance personnel to improve the diagnostic process continually, thus aligning with the standards documented in ISO 50001:2011 (ISO, 2011) regarding continual improvement of electrical energy management initiatives. The new supervisory system is scalable, thus an ESCO can maintain the performance of a growing number of EMSs remotely. Results of this study support further supervisory system integration with compatible EMS technologies, and expansion to new EMS technologies. The modular design of the supervisory system provides a basis for the development of a cross-industry platform for maintaining EMS performance. / PhD (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Energy services companies (ESCOs) typically implement energy management systems (EMSs) as part of Demand-Side Management (DSM) projects on South African mines. After DSM project completion, the mine becomes responsible for maintaining the performance of the EMS. Due to a lack of experience in using specialised EMSs, mines typically contract ESCOs for EMS maintenance. However, maintaining a large number of EMSs remotely is a resource-intensive task because of time wasted on daily monitoring and travelling to perform on-site maintenance. For the same reason, remote maintenance technologies have become widely used to maintain cellular devices, vehicles and industrial equipment. Mine EMSs typically control production-critical systems that in turn ensure safe working conditions underground. EMSs execute highly specialised control philosophies to achieve electrical energy management, while ensuring safe and productive system operation. None of the work done on remote maintenance, however, provides an integrated solution to maintain the performance of a growing number of these specialised EMSs. As part of this study, a supervisory system was developed to optimise remote maintenance of different EMS technologies. The supervisory system builds on the fundamentals of existing remote maintenance technologies, complemented by comprehensive diagnostics of specialised EMS technologies. This is possible through automated diagnostics of EMS components, the control philosophy and overall EMS performance. Maintenance management forms part of the supervisory system to ensure that maintenance is performed with optimal efficiency. A system implementation was executed to prove the feasibility of the supervisory system. The functional operation of the system was verified with pre-set scenarios that simulated day-to-day operation and common fault diagnostic events. As part of the case studies conducted for this thesis, the supervisory system was integrated with three distinct EMS technologies implemented on South African mines. To support the results of these case studies, the system validation was extended through integrations with seven additional EMSs. For the first time, a supervisory assessed the condition of the EMS components, the control philosophy and DSM performance comprehensively. The results (obtained over a period of more than six months) indicated that the average operational availability of EMS components improved from 90% to 97%. The average EMS performance improved from 1.8 MW to 2.5 MW, an improvement of 39%. The resulting electricity cost reduction achieved on the case studies accumulated to approximately R6 million during the respective assessment periods. The supervisory system facilitated efficient EMS maintenance, thus reducing the risk of unsafe working conditions and production interruptions. The system also allowed maintenance personnel to improve the diagnostic process continually, thus aligning with the standards documented in ISO 50001:2011 (ISO, 2011) regarding continual improvement of electrical energy management initiatives. The new supervisory system is scalable, thus an ESCO can maintain the performance of a growing number of EMSs remotely. Results of this study support further supervisory system integration with compatible EMS technologies, and expansion to new EMS technologies. The modular design of the supervisory system provides a basis for the development of a cross-industry platform for maintaining EMS performance. / PhD (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Ce travail de thèse s’inscrit dans la continuité des activités de recherche du laboratoire GREAH sur les problématiques de la gestion d’énergie électrique et de l’amélioration de la qualité énergétique des systèmes de production aux énergies renouvelables. En effet, le couplage de plusieurs sources de natures différentes entraîne des problématiques de dimensionnement, de qualité d’énergie et de la durée de vie des éléments interconnectés. La démarche scientifique repose sur la caractérisation de l'évolution des résistances et des capacités des cellules de batteries LFP/supercondensateurs en fonction des contraintes électriques et thermiques, suivi de la modélisation du vieillissement accéléré des cellules. Nous proposons dans ce mémoire de thèse des améliorations de la réponse dynamique d’un bateau fluvial à propulsion électrique par l’hybridation des batteries LFP et des supercondensateurs. Nous proposons également une approche électrothermique pour la caractérisation et la modélisation multi-physique du vieillissement des batteries et supercondensateurs en utilisant des contraintes combinées de la température et de la fréquence des ondulations du courant de charge/décharge des cellules. Les données expérimentales collectées ont permis d'établir des modèles des supercondensateurs et des batteries dédiés aux systèmes multi-sources incluant des sources d’énergie renouvelable (éoliens et hydroliens). Les modèles développés se révèlent très précis par rapport aux résultats expérimentaux. Ils permettent une bonne description du phénomène de vieillissement des batteries LFP/supercondensateurs dû aux opérations de charge/décharge avec un courant continu fluctuant combiné à une température variable. / This thesis work is a continuation of the research activities of the GREAH laboratory on the issues of the management of electrical energy and improving the energy quality of production systems for renewable energy. Indeed, the coupling of several different nature sources entails the problems of dimension, quality of energy and the lifetime of the interconnected elements. The scientific approach is based on the characterization of the evolution of the resistances and capacitances of the batteries/supercapacitors cells according to the electrical and thermal constraints, followed by the modeling of accelerated cells aging. In this thesis, we propose improvements to the dynamic response of an electric propulsion fluvial boat by using the hybrid system of lithium-batteries and supercapacitors. We also propose an electrothermal approach for the multi-physical characterization and modeling of the batteries and supercapacitors aging, using combined constraints of the temperature and frequency of the DC current ripples. The experimental data has been collected to establish models of batteries and supercapacitors dedicated to multi-source systems including renewable energy sources (wind and tidal turbines). The results of the developed models shown high accuracy compared with experimental results. These models illustrated a good description of the aging phenomenon of batteries/ supercapacitors due to charging/discharging operations with a fluctuating continuous current combined with a variable temperature.