Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems were created in developed economies and rely on extensive physical infrastructures, such as optical cables and telephone lines. Many developing countries, particularly those in Africa, have bypassed the need for physical telephone infrastructure by adopting mobile phones. Traditional SCADA providers have not yet responded to the different telecommunications available in Africa, and as a result, the infrastructure needed can be prohibitively expensive and sometimes unreliable as it is maintained for a single requirement.

We can provide an alternative to full-blown SCADA systems for real-time system monitoring and energy management via our “SCADA Light” system. Data collection is done via mobile phone apps that transmit readings to a central database each hour. This will facilitate real-time monitoring of each feeder and in turn tighter control of energisation, a reduction of corruption and increased revenues for utilities with high non-technical losses.