In the developed countries, integration of renewable energy (RE) generators to national electricity grid is as common as papa is to a Mosotho. Although our continent in general and Lesotho in particular are endowed with renewable energy sources (solar, wind, etc.) harvesting them to produce grid electricity is currently at a negligible level. Since grid integration of intermittent RE sources is not currently common in our continent and country, one of the main hindrance is availability of credible scientific information on the impact of these sources on specific national grids.
To address this challenge for Lesotho, an Energy Research Centre MSc in Sustainable Energy student, Mr. Sebota Mokeke, undertook the study of the impact of RE sources on the Lesotho grid as his dissertation project. In order to check the credibility and legitimacy of his results, he sent a paper to Electric Power Systems Research which is an Elsevier international journal. The paper got reviewed by a panel of international experts who all agreed that the results were both credible and worth sharing with the international community.
Curious about what the results are? Here is the link for the paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsr.2021.107196
Should you have challenges accessing the paper, please contact energy@nul.ls and we’ll send you a copy.
During the virtual (thanks to Covid19) oral presentation of his results in the presence of energy stakeholders across the globe, even before the results were send for international verification and publication, a company called Hirundo Energy based in Belgium got so impressed with the results that they signed up ERC for multiple analysis projects costing them a lot of money (chelete ea lipampiri). For all the results we return for their work, they always exclaim that the quality and depth of our work continuously surprises them!
All MSc in Sustainable Energy dissertation projects are proposed by and/or done in collaboration with energy stakeholders. This is because ERC is keen on projects that add value and solve real challenges as opposed to production of academic reports.
Our quality and depth of research has attracted a number of companies and potential students not only across our continent but beyond. In the next cohort of students, who start in August 2021, we have already enrolled a number of students from Europe! Moreover, as you may be aware, we were the only African programme invited to the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All Youth Summit held in February 2021!
So, what’s your perception of our MSc in Sustainable Energy programme?
Applications to the programme are open until 30th April 2021. For further information please visit https://erc.nul.ls/msc or send an email to energy@nul.ls or contact +266 58585008.
ERC: Promoting 100% Clean & Sustainable Energy!
