International energy management specialist Schneider Electric will showcase its comprehensive solutions for the mining, metals and minerals industry at mining trade show Electra Mining Botswana in September.

“Schneider Electric is participating in this year’s event to create awareness and to generate new business,” says Schneider Electric marketing communications manager for industry Niconette du Toit, adding that the company also aims to support its installed base in Botswana and to increase exposure in emerging markets.

“We are displaying our full comprehensive solution for mining process plants at the event. These include medium-voltage solutions, low-voltage solutions, automation process solutions, energy management solutions across the entire plant, secure power solutions and security and surveillance solutions,” Du Toit notes.
She adds that Schneider is also introducing methods and solutions to companies that will improve their energy efficiency and increase their exposure in emerging markets.

“We are also looking forward to informing our customers at the event of our comprehensive solutions for the mining, metals and minerals industry, with the main focus on energy management,” she notes.

Energy Efficiency

Global energy demand is set to double by 2050, which means that the world needs to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by half to avoid dramatic climate changes, notes Schneider Electric South Africa professional services director Shaun Wilson.

He notes that there are many other energy challenges linked to population expansion, including the scarcity of natural resources and access to energy.

“The key indicator that enables us to tackle current energy challenges is energy efficiency, which needs to be realised through solutions that can make the most of the planet’s energy,” he says.

Wilson adds that, against this backdrop, Schneider Electric continuously endeavours to meet the world’s energy challenges, including realising the smart-grid concept and providing energy efficiency solutions for people in their daily lives, ranging from homes to industrial facilities.

“Schneider Electric’s research and develop- ment (R&D) talent pool encompasses 11 000 technical and R&D engineers located worldwide. These specialists create innovative solutions through internal and external collaborations with universities, laboratories and industries worldwide, as well as through customer participation and interaction,” he says.

Wilson notes that to deliver on energy efficiency strategies, Schneider Electric focuses its innovation efforts on three complementary areas – making energy digital, designing flexible energy platforms and delivering scalable energy efficiency solutions.

“Energy efficiency starts with making energy digital, allowing energy information to flow across the entire value chain. This helps measure and control energy at the lowest possible level, from simple inexpensive monitoring to sophisticated power quality analysis,” he says.

He adds that Schneider also assists in using information intelligently in control systems to improve energy use in homes, buildings, data centres and industrial processes, as well as to understand energy use across the network to support end-to-end optimisation and connection to the distribution grid.

“These levels of energy information integrate seamlessly to form an energy management platform that can be flexibly deployed into highly efficient, yet flexible, solutions, including Web services on an Internet protocol (IP) backbone that standardises communication of energy information,” notes Wilson.

He adds that these Web services connect dedicated software components, combining them into powerful, yet flexible, solutions.

“These solutions use role-based interfaces to provide the right information in the right context, putting it at the disposal of users,” he explains.

Wilson points out that when major solutions are implemented, these solutions can easily be deployed and used by its customers.

“Energy management architectures are pre-packaged into energy efficiency solutions for the major markets we serve and these solutions can either be deployed progressively, through mixed cloud-based deployment or through traditional delivery methods,” Wilson states.

He further explains that an extended range of innovative services, from energy audits to performance-based contracts, supports the deployment of the solutions.

“Schneider Electric stands firm in its vision of making energy safe, reliable, efficient, easy to use and green, through its innovative energy efficiency solutions. The key to this is having all stakeholders work together to find the best solutions and combining them, as well as collaborating across sectors, to ensure cost effectiveness, compliance and funding over time,” says Wilson.

He adds that it can be time consuming and expensive to replace obsolescent switchgear.

Ecofit

The organisation’s Ecofit solution, which assists with switchgear retrofits and upgrade programmes, offers limited busbar shutdowns and no civil work modifications.

“Ecofit enables users to reduce maintenance and replace old technology with the latest innovations. Through this offering, Schneider Electric can replace a client’s circuit breaker and protection relays or provide an extension panel for an existing installation, all with minimal downtime,” says Schneider Electric South Africa services manager Roland Bartle.

He notes that more than 1 000 companies worldwide have already adopted Ecofit, which has proved the efficiency, safety and currency of their systems.

“Our organisation can now provide more than 150 solutions for medium- and low- voltage switchgear. We can replace Schneider Electric switchgear and its legacy brands and Ecofit can also be applied to non-Schneider Electric equipment,” Bartle says.

He notes that the benefits of the solu- tion include significantly prolonging the effective lifetime, enhanced availability and operational reliability of switchgear by reducing the risk of failure and the outage required to complete a retrofit.

Bartle adds that Ecofit also gives new life to installations by allowing for customers’ C801 to C1251 N/H low-voltage switchboards to be retrofitted with the company’s Compact C solution, which is the latest Compact NS version.

“To counter rising energy costs and cut greenhouse-gas emissions, we must all find new ways to reduce energy consumption. Distributed energy metering is a critical first step. It will help you understand exactly where, when and how much energy is consumed throughout your facilities, revealing valuable opportunities to improve your efficiency,” concludes Bartle.