ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS National Science Foundation Workshop On: US-AFRICA Research And Education Collaboration In Power Systems

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS US-Africa Research And Education Collaboration 1989 – Professor James Momoh while on holidays in Nigeria gave a two-day workshop on Experts Systems to a group of engineers of the National Electric Power Authority, NEPA

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS US-Africa Research and Education Collaboration 1992 – building on the relationship started in 1989, Professor Momoh convinced the NEPA Management to host and part-fund the first International Workshop on Voltage Collapse and Voltage Regulation, IWVCVR in Lagos, Nigeria. NSF provided the off-shore funding to enable foreign resource persons attend. Participants came from the US and many African countries. Theme: Worldwide Experiences and Methodologies for the detection and prevention of Massive Power Failures

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS US-Africa Research and Education Collaboration Some new initiatives and future plans agreed on at IWVCVR ’92 were: –Development of an African Power Engineers Directory (More than 100 members registered at the conference) –Circulation of the workshop proceedings worldwide especially to each of the African Ministries/Departments of Power and Energy –Exploration of proposed research between US and African universities through the NSF and USAID –Exploration of an exchange of scholars, faculty and engineers –Scheduling follow-up conferences to cover broader themes

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS Another initiative from IWVCVR ’92, Visions and Standards ‘2000 for Power Engineers

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS US-Africa Research and Education collaboration Following from the experiences and initiatives shared at IWVCVR ‘92, despite the lack of functioning SCADA facilities at its National Control Centre, Nigeria’s NEPA had a perfect year without any total system collapse in 1992, unprecedented in its history. This convinced NEPA’s Management of the usefulness of this US-Africa collaboration, hence its support for the program till date

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS US-Africa Research and Education collaboration 1994 – the first set of three Nigerian secondary school pupils attended the summer program, Energy Expert Systems Institute’s summer program hosted at Howard University Since then many more have attended, with many eventually graduating from Howard University in Electrical Engineering

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS US-Africa Research and Education Collaboration IWVCVR upgraded to a full conference, ICPSOP ICPSOP I took place at Lagos with participants from US and many African countries

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS Some identified research/activity areas from the ICPSOP series: Development of data-base on power system operations in Africa to test some sophisticated tools being developed in the US (1992) The success (albeit limited) of system operators in many African countries without sophisticated tools – SCADA, state estimators, etc – highlighted the posibilities to develop/adapt A-I/ Expert System applications (1992) Importance of incorporating equipment data collection and assessment of equipment life-expectancy in power system planning (1995) Development of adequate model for handling environmental, social, and other non-technical constraints (1995)

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS Some more identified areas of research/activity Electricity market structure design with minimal volatility and protection against manipulation to suit the fragile African Electricity Supply Industries (2002)

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS US-Africa Research and Education Collaboration workshop CONCLUSION (I) –The US-Africa Research and Education Exchange we are kicking off today has grown out of the efforts of Professor James A. Momoh, beginning from the first in-house Workshop he held for NEPA engineers in Nigeria on Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence in 1989, through the IWVCVR (1992) and ICPSOP conferences ( ) which he pioneered and were strongly supported by NSF and Electric Utility companies in Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana over the years.

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS US-Africa Research and Education Collaboration Workshop CONCLUSION (II) –Many possible research/activity areas of interest to both US and African Power engineers and researchers have been identified over the years, some have been mentioned in this presentation –A community of African and US Power engineers and researchers has been identified and they have also developed and agreed a Vision and Standards 2000 to guide them.

ENGR. F.A. SOMOLU, PRESIDENT, NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS US-Africa Research and Education Collaboration Workshop CONCLUSION (III) –This US-Africa research and education collaboration must succeed. It has all it needs to succeed and I wish us good luck and God’s guidance. Engr. F. A. Somolu