As the country faces the rough ride of continuing loadshedding, the resilience of South African businesses and industry is remarkable! Against the backdrop of a worsening energy crisis, President Ramaphosa is holding to the five critical steps of the Energy Plan he outlined in July 2022, with a view to accelerating implementation and the work of the National Electricity Crisis Committee (NECOM) by appointing a new, fully focused – and still to be announced – Minister of Electricity.
Ahead of announcing the Energy Plan, the president had canvassed a spectrum of business organisations, labour federations, community representatives, energy experts and political party leaders, all of whom helped to shape the response to addressing the national energy crisis.
It is worth restating the key interventions of the Energy Plan here, as a reference for progress:
- Firstly, improving the performance of Eskom’s existing fleet of power stations
- Secondly, accelerating the procurement of new generation capacity
- Thirdly, massively increasing private investment in generation capacity
- Fourthly, enabling businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar, and
- Finally, fundamentally transforming the electricity sector and positioning it for future sustainability.
Futher, in his 2023 Budget Speech, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana presented substantial relief to Eskom as government takes on a significant share (254 billion over the next three years) of the utility’s hobbling debt levels, with conditions that any new expenditure be committed to refurbishment of the existing fleet and maintenance and extension of the transmission grid.
Together with accelerated implementation of the Energy Plan, these are all measures that can move the country towards overcoming the energy crisis.
Clearly, these concerns affect all of us, at home and in our places of work, day by day. And as Editorial Technical Director, Professor Ian Jandrell says in his Comment in this issue of Electricity +Control many big energy users – and small – are now considering moving off grid and using alternative energy sources, as far as possible.
In the features of this March edition, we look at Control systems + automation; Drives, motors + switchgear; Measurement + instrumentation; and Transformers, substations + cables.
In Control systems + automation, we see how time sensitive networking is advancing industrial connectivity and introducing the possibility for significant productivity improvements. Increasingly, end device manufacturers and network infrastructure developers are creating TSN compatible products to support future automation. New network switches from Hirschmann Automation and Control – a Belden brand – are just one example, and here we learn why the company has chosen this route.
Highlighting the advantages of decentralised control, Turck Banner presents Krups Automation’s novel conveyor system which uses self-driven electric eCarts and is designed primarily to serve the assembly and testing tracks for battery pack production of German car manufacturers. Turck’s IP67 PLCs provide for decentralised operational control of the individual conveyor modules, optimising efficiencies and supporting maximum uptime of the conveyor system.
In Drives, motors + switchgear, Adrian van Wyk of Referro Systems notes the benefits of using variable speed drives, but cautions that they are not always the best solution for every motor control application. He sets out various factors that should be considered before specifying VSDs.
Green hydrogen is becoming an increasingly attractive option, globally, for a cleaner energy mix. In Measurement + instrumentation ABB Measurement & Analytics takes a closer look at the green hydrogen production process and outlines the measurement parameters that need to be taken into account to ensure production of a high-quality product, safely and efficiently.
In the feature on Transformers, substations + cables, we learn how smaller utilities, managing a limited number of substations, can benefit from installing automated power factor balancing systems, without having to invest in complex SCADA networks. And we see how SA industry is stepping to the fore in assisting with new energy generation and storage projects, and the supply of safe transformers for wide-ranging applications.
Turning to our regular column on Engineering the future, Mpho Dipela, Chairman and shareholder of Legacy Motor Group addresses the question: Is South Africa ready for the future of mobility? He points out the roadblocks that the country needs to navigate to gear up for e-mobility nationally and particularly in the automotive industry – a critical contributor to the SA economy – that serves mainly European and other international markets fast turning to e-mobility exclusively.
The global shift to demanding cleaner energy and sustainable production is equally evident in the mining sector and in our column Write @ the back, Webber Wentzel sets out key ESG considerations guiding investment decisions and how these can be seen as opportunities for mining houses looking to the ‘minerals of the future’.
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