While South Africa offers the rest of Africa practical examples of sustainable infrastructure development, there is still much that needs to be done before the country achieves a sustainable transition, says Stellenbosch University Centre for Sustainability Transition professor Desta Mebratu Belay. The country is reaching for a more sustainable future, but two years after Cabinet approved 62 strategic infrastructure projects (SIPs), including in the energy, water and sanitation sectors, almost one-quarter of these projects, worth R340-billion, were delayed or on hold as of late May.
Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) has declared its pilot solar energy project a success. MBSA piloted the project in order to evaluate the solar yield for the East London manufacturing plant, in the Eastern Cape.
Measuring instruments supplier Wika Instruments has launched its new Emission Control Gauge, referred to as the Emico gauge pressure measuring assembly, to ensure safety for people and the environment in critical processes, says Wika product specialist Sagadevan Kanniappen.
The global transition to a lower-carbon environment presents Africa with an opportunity to boost its economies, including the mining and industrial sectors, as well as beneficiation capabilities and job creation, by playing a greater role in supplying the so-called green minerals required for low-carbon technologies. Green minerals are those used in vast quantities in modern electric systems, such as renewable-energy products, batteries and power distribution, and include copper, cobalt, lithium, manganese, graphite and nickel.
Digitally transforming water supply and treatment plants can elevate the water and wastewater sector’s operational effectiveness for increased sustainability, says energy management and automation specialist Schneider Electric Anglophone Africa software leader Johan Potgieter. In South Africa, the provision of essential water and wastewater services is significantly challenged, while rapid population growth and urbanisation boost demand, owing to ageing infrastructure, rapid technology change, industrial shifts, increasingly stringent regulations and intensified environmental concerns about water treatment systems, he notes.
Lighting manufacturer BEKA Schréder has supplied a light-emitting diode (LED) solution for alcohol manufacturer AlcoNCP in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. This new lighting installation needed to comply to zone specifications while providing a highly reliable and energy-efficient lighting solution.
Technological advancements have become prominent in commercial and industrial lighting applications, which has created additional benefits for the sector, says lighting manufacturer Regent Lighting Solutions MD Randal Wahl and technical sales manager Chris Gijzelaar. Technological trends include high-tech control systems, Bluetooth applications, near-field communication (NFC), emergency lighting, flexible lighting systems, light control using lenses to project light where required, tuneable white and circadian-rhythm lighting (human-centric lighting, or HCL), as well as dark light for low glare application.
Johannesburg-based lighting manufacturer Regent Lighting Solutions embarked on various projects for the industrial and commercial lighting industry last year. The company took on a project for online retail company Takelot in Johannesburg and Cape Town from July to May of this year.
Industrial and specialty gases supplier Airgas has signed an agreement with zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell powered commercial vehicles supplier Hyzon Motors to pilot two heavy duty hydrogen fuel cell trucks, including one 100 kW fuel cell truck and the first Hyzon 200 kW hydrogen fuel cell powered truck to be tested commercially.
Renewable energy developer Enel Green Power (EGP) has connected the 147 MW Soetwater Wind Farm, located in a remote part of the Karoo Hoogland local municipality in the Northern Cape, to the national grid as it achieves commercial operation. The plant will be able to generate 585 GWh/y, potentially averting the emission of about 600 000 t/y of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere a year. The wind farm features Vestas V136 4.2 MW wind turbines, the largest on the African continent to date, the company adds.