We wish to congratulate Prof Michael Njoroge Gitau, professor in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, who virtually delivered his inaugural address titled Effects of changes in the energy mix and types of loads on future power grids on 21 October 2021. The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT), Prof Sunil Maharaj, welcomed the guests and invited Prof Tawana Kupe, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, to introduce Prof Gitau and briefly discuss his career to date.

Prof Gitau graduated with a first class honours degree from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Nairobi, Kenya in 1984, after which he was employed by the Kenya Railways organisation as an electrical engineer from 1985 to 1988. An appointment as a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Nairobi followed—a position he held from 1988 to 1990. In 1990 he was awarded a Commonwealths and Foreign Office Chevenins scholarship to pursue PhD research in power electronics at Loughborough University in England, UK. He graduated with his PhD in 1995. During 1995 and 1996, he was employed as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi and from 1996 to 1997 he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch.

He joined the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of Pretoria as a senior lecturer in 1997, after which he was promoted to the position of associate professor in 2001. He was awarded a Commonwealth fellowship that allowed him to spend six months in 2004/2005 as a visiting professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Loughborough University. In 2014 he also spent three months as a visiting professor at the Universitè du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada and the Tennessee Technological University, USA. He was promoted to the position of professor in 2020.

Prof Gitau is a senior member of the IEEE and a registered professional engineer in South Africa. His research focuses on the analysis, modelling and control of power electronics converters, conducted EMI generation and mitigation techniques in DC-DC converters, converters for integration of renewable energy sources into the grid and converters for realising DC grids.

According to Prof Gitau, fossil fuels dominate the present-day energy mix. The benefits of a higher share of renewable energy in the energy mix include lower harmful emissions and water demand, and higher operational efficiency. Renewable power generation utilises power electronic converters and DC power transmission and distribution. He added that with dispersed renewable energy sources, bidirectional power flow becomes inevitable in distribution grids that previously handled only unidirectional power flow. Widespread adoption of electrified transportation will see a marked increase in the number of DC loads. Furthermore, renewables providing additional electricity will compensate for a lower share of fossil fuels in the energy mix. Prof Gitau explained that changes in the energy mix and loads lead to an increase in DC grids, a need to develop bidirectional solid-state/DC protection systems, and a need to develop control strategies for dispersed energy storage to ensure that dispersed renewable energy sources operate efficiently. The electrical grid will also have to be expanded to cater for energy previously transported by other means. These changes create an opportunity for structuring future grids differently for better performance. In particular, grids divided into different levels of subsystems, with a modular design at all levels and DC transmission and distribution, can be introduced in areas where they offer more benefits than AC. Suitable power electronic converters to provide energy management services, bidirectional DC protection, and reduced interactions between the various subsystems will therefore be needed. Additionally, converters to interface subsystems will also have to be developed.

Prof Sunil Maharaj, the Dean of EBIT, thanked prof Gitau for his deep and insightful presentation, the contents of which is of critical importance to take South Africa and the African continent to a new dimension in order to be innovative in our approach, given our energy challenges and load shedding in the country, and the impact it has on the economy, investment, job creation, poverty and inequality. He also emphasised the importance of renewable energy in meeting the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. He concluded by congratulating Prof Gitau once again on his hard-earned success and this milestone achievement.

For Prof Gitau’s complete inaugural address, please visit the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX2zEzyzxqU