In the current energy constrained environment, energy management is of course a critical concern for everyone in South Africa and particularly for industry and for businesses, big and small. As well as managing energy efficiently, it encompasses many aspects: building adequate supply, ensuring effective maintenance, upgrading and extending the grid, establishing new substations, managing distributed energy systems and more.
There is a growing argument for digitalisation to support the efficient management of energy systems – at utility level as well as on the factory floor. And increasingly we see how digitalisation can help to optimise industrial operations more broadly – and support sustainability.
For this issue, considering the accelerating momentum of industry’s transition to a digital future, Leigh Darroll spoke to the Siemens Digital Industries team at the recent Africa Automation Technology Fair, about the needs and opportunities for digitalisation in industry in South Africa – and some of the work in which Siemens is involved.
Also in Industry 4.0 + IIoT, Yaskawa Southern Africa shares how it worked with automation specialist and system integrator Tectra Automation of the Bosch Rexroth Group to introduce a robot-assisted automated palletising system for French multinational Danone at its East Rand facility.
In Energy management + the industrial environment, CEO of SAWEA, Niveshen Govender highlights how the new >500 MW battery energy storage procurement programme, with bid submissions due in July, will help bolster transmission in the Northern Cape and allow for more renewable energy capacity to feed into the grid. At the same time, he emphasises that the expansion and strengthening of the grid nationally remain critical to building a stable energy system and secure supply.
In addition, we explore various technologies and solutions in the energy management space, from higher efficiency solar panels, to measuring site-specific wind resources, to battery energy storage at residential, commercial and industrial scale – and more.
In the field of Measurement + instrumentation, devices are also evolving with the continuing rollout and implementation of IIoT. VEGA now incorporates IO-Link in its radar sensors; Keller enables direct connectivity between level sensors in site applications and suppliers – in this case, breweries – to ensure consistent deliveries; and Wika is stepping towards a new era of ‘Smart in sensing’, as it announced at Hannover Messe earlier this year.
In Transformers, substations and cables, Rynard Potgieter of Zest WEG shares how the company developed specialised transformers for use in the 40 MW first phase of an embedded solar energy generation plant at a South African mine and the specific factors taken into consideration. Interestingly, the transformers used are ester oil cooled, providing a lower risk and more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional oil cooled transformers.
We learn that SA manufacturer of transformers ArmCoil, is working with Schneider Electric on the supply of mobile skid substations, also for a mining company in South Africa, and how ABB has formalised its partnership with Gqeberha-based Eya Bantu to manufacture its 33 kV gas-insulated switchgear – supporting local manufacture in line with global standards.
And there is always more in our regular columns on Reskilling, upskilling + training; Cybersecurity; Engineering the future and Write at the back – where, in this issue, Andile Skosana CEO of CityConsolidator, Africa sets out the e-Micro mobility pilot project rolling out in Rosebank, Johannesburg – working with delivery riders and their motor bikes.
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