Author Archive for: Engineering News

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the domestic industry’s welcoming of an initiative to use private sector participation to accelerate the roll-out of grid infrastructure, as well as some of the concerns being raised about the pace of deployment and the preference that is seemingly being given to international firms.

Having made significant investments in its distribution, engineering facilities and technical skills, industrial solutions provider BMG’s dedicated variable-speed drive (VSD) workshops in Cape Town, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal remain the approved warranty centres for renowned brands – including Danfoss, VACON and Synergy – in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. BMG’s range of Danfoss electronic, mechanical and intelligent ‘mechatronic’ devices are designed to optimise automation processes and reduce energy consumption.

After several delays since its launch in 2017, the $294-million Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP), aimed at repairing decades of erosion from high-velocity water discharge and refurbishing the dam’s spillway, is now largely complete, with remaining works due to wrap up by September next year. The project’s core components are the reshaping of the dam’s plunge pool, completed in September last year, and the refurbishment of all six sluices in the spillway, the first phase of which is now 99% complete, with finalisation expected before year-end. Phase II, which began in 2024, has progressed to the 26% completion mark, with overall works scheduled to conclude in just under a year.

South Africa’s public and private sectors involved in environmental regulations and electricity are working to develop an energy attribute certificate (EAC) system that would enable the verification, certification, tracking and transfer of organisations’ emissions-reduction efforts. The need is two-fold. The first is that accurate accounting of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions associated with electricity supply and consumption is increasingly being required globally and in South Africa.

Two years after its inaugural launch, Nordex Energy South Africa’s internship programme continues to build a pipeline of skilled technicians to service and manage wind farms. To date, 14 young engineers, with a minimum N4 qualification in electrical, mechanical or mechatronics disciplines, have been provided practical training opportunities aligned with the increasing demand for specialised skills within the wind industry.