Presenter – Oan de Waal, Pr. Eng.
Education
Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Stellenbosch University. Power plant controller energy design to optimise techno-economic operations of a PV-BESS hybrid power plant.
Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering, University of Pretoria. Development of an electro-magnetic material characterisation method.
I am a professionally registered engineer with 9 years of experience, driving delivery of large scale energy storage and renewable energy development projects across multidisciplinary and international teams. My expertise extends from techno-economic design, modelling, simulation, and optimisation of hybrid power systems sizes and operation, to integrating solar, wind, utility, power conversion systems, and various energy storage types, including lithium-ion, hydrogen, and pumped hydro storage.
List of topics covered:
- Global market overview
- Introduction to BESS
- What is BESS used for?
- How it works
- Converters and specification
- Battery Management System (BMS)
- BESS PCS vs Solar Inverter
- Power converters and specification
- AC and DC coupling
- Co-located use case
- Setup, communication, system integration – Standards
- Power security and energy security
- BESS Techno-Economic Optimisation Tools
- BESS hazard types
- Planning
- Installation and commissioning
- Lifetimes of key components
- Degradation
- Wholesale Power Market Platform
Validated for 0.1 CPD credit
ECSA: SAICEEL25/03926/26
Validation Exp: 2025-03-25 to 2026-03-24
