Siemens headquarters in Midrand today uses about 50% less energy from the national grid than it did just over a year ago when the company established a primarily solar-powered microgrid at its Midrand campus.
The distributed energy system at Siemens Midrand campus includes a 1 MW PV-solar power plant with solar panels mounted to the roofs of carports and the buildings.
Over this period, by taking steps to reduce its energy usage and by using energy supplied via the microgrid, it has downscaled its consumption from the national grid by 2 435 000 kWh (2.4 GWh). That translates into 174 000 kWh per month, which represents 50% of the company’s normal monthly consumption.
That 174 000 kWh saved per month is about the same amount of energy used by 50 average South Africa households over a year.
This case study demonstrates savings on energy usage, energy costs, and the reduction of harmful emissions (2 460 tonnes CO2 equivalent to date) that would otherwise have occurred had the company continued to draw its energy only from the predominantly fossil-fuel powered national grid.
Bringing together the experience and initiative of local and global Siemens experts, this is the first Siemens distributed energy system (DES) solution of its kind in Africa. It also marks the first time that Siemens has installed the system in one of its own buildings. The project is aligned with the company’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 – through energy efficiency improvements, the use of decentralised energy systems, the purchasing of clean electricity, and allied offsets if necessary.
Sabine Dall’Omo, CEO Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa says, “The project provides a showcase on a proven Siemens solution that will help save energy, cut costs, lower carbon emissions and ensure uninterrupted power. Everything from installation to operating costs has been tracked to present a realistic case study for the South African context, and the results to date are convincing. The DES solution installed at our office park serves as an active example of our belief in the solution and the sustained benefits it creates.”
The system that has been installed at Siemens’ Midrand campus can be replicated and adapted to provide reliable and more efficient power to businesses, office parks, manufacturing plants, institutions and even small communities that do not have access to the national grid.
Distributed energy systems
The Siemens office park covers 22 351 m2 and accommodates 800 to 1 000 workers daily. The DES solution is built around a 1 MW PV-solar plant with the solar panels mounted to roof the rows of carports as well as on the roofs of the buildings and equipment positioned strategically throughout the campus. Captured solar power is integrated into the microgrid controller. Excess energy is stored in a 140 kWh battery and the entire system is monitored, visualised and controlled via a Siemens engineered IoT (Internet of Things) energy platform.
Distributed energy systems are an ideal solution for the African continent because they are designed to be adaptable. They also facilitate the use of diverse power sources – solar or wind during the day, switching to other forms of generation such as biomass, or more conventional diesel generators, when the conditions for renewable energy generation are poor.
Dall ‘Omo adds, “One of the most exciting aspects of a microgrid system is the potential for storing and exchanging power. For example, an office park that generates a lot of power during the day could pass on that stored power to a nearby residential community to be used at night. Depending on the setup, power generated by the community overnight could in turn be transferred back to the office park for use during the day. Such relationships between business and communities could result in massive savings across the board and make huge leaps towards a cleaner energy environment in South Africa.”
(Potential exchanges as outlined would, however, require a distribution network that could handle two-way traffic.)
The challenges currently facing Africa’s energy sector are leading private businesses, residential communities, education institutions and others, to curtail their dependence on the traditional centralised model of power generation and linear distribution and to identify alternative, efficient power generation solutions.
Siemens DES is designed to provide uninterrupted power and ensure a steady and reliable electricity supply to meet growing demand across the continent.
For more information visit: https://new.siemens.com/za/en.html
