The prospect of South Africa procuring electricity from powerships docked either in South Africa or in a neighbouring country has increased, with the Eskom board having approved three emergency procurement programmes that now only require the concurrence of the regulator before proceeding. The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) will host hearings on May 19 into three determinations for emergency power, including: the 2 000 MW Load Shedding Reduction Programme (LSRP); a 1 000 MW scheme to secure additional cross-border electricity; and an 800 MW Emergency Generation Procurement Programme.
Automation company Festo has further developed its compressed air technology to make its pneumatics sustainable, resource saving and energy efficient. While the production of tyres and wafers are seemingly very different, both products require the same technology, namely controlled pneumatics.
The drive towards reducing carbon footprints while remaining sustainable and profitable operationally and financially has become a priority for the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Within this context, operations and maintenance service provider AES has “become the go-to company for plants to optimise their energy generation and operations while diversifying energy resources, improving energy plant operations and reducing carbon footprints”, says AES director Dennis Williams.
Local medium voltage (MV) ac motor and transformers manufacturer ArmCoil Afrika and engineering services company Schneider Electric have partnered on the provision of a skid mobile substation product line that will provide continuous power to a large mining conglomerate’s South African operations. The companies have already completed two skid substations (SKID 961 and SKID 979), with the third and fourth units currently in the manufacturing process. A SKID is a prefabricated substation, assembled on a self-supporting transformer, creating an easily transportable design that can be quickly energised.