There is an increasing need to think outside of the box when it comes to South Africa’s energy approach, not only in the energy mix, but in how it is managed and used, says Zest WEG newly appointed group CEO Juliano Vargas.

Zest WEG, the South African subsidiary of Brazilian motor and controls manufacturer WEG, believes an important factor, as South Africa is more and more exposed to the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, is going to be customising power generation solutions by not only considering the customer’s energy consumption requirements, but also through the use of energy efficiency equipment.

“We need to understand what is to come, what is available and how to prepare for this in terms of energy use and management,” he says.

South Africa needs to address its power supply crisis by implementing more energy efficient solutions on an industrial level to alleviate demand on State-owned power utility Eskom’s generating capacity.

“How we use these energy resources is critical, and considering the economical aspect and our challenges as companies involved in the problems and solutions, the way we approach it makes a lot of difference,” he tells Engineering News.

“We have the installed capacity, but it is either not available or not reliable. In addition, there is also a need to find ways of reducing our energy footprint. We have to step up and we have to evolve,” he continues, noting the need to generate, distribute and use energy more efficiently amid an accelerated rate of change.

South Africa’s current energy mix is challenging, with a large dependency on coal-fired power making it difficult to comply with the required reduction in emissions.

He explains that both solar photovoltaic and wind energy technologies continue to become cheaper, easier to install and more efficient. Furthermore, the incorporation of renewable energy generation solutions in the energy mix has already proven to be beneficial, by assisting to reduce some of the impact associated with loadshedding in South Africa.

Consideration should also be given to Brazil’s solution of leveraging sugar cane mills’ secondary production of energy (already available in South Africa), the use of ethanol or natural gas instead of diesel and the use of large battery banks to supplement energy needs.

“We have to play with these solutions. We cannot just stick to one or the other, we have the advantage of rapid technological improvements, which now allow us to develop hybrid energy solutions. Further, the paybacks are there.”

However, just because energy can be generated, does not mean it should be over consumed.

“Energy efficiency helps to flatten the curve on energy demand. It is the low-hanging fruit,” he adds.

It is also faster to promote and implement energy efficiency solutions than energy generation projects.

“It can take several years to put one new megawatt on the grid, but energy efficiency regulations can be put in place and implemented within six months or so. There has to be a balance”.

“We strongly believe that the combination of using the best of the resources that you have available to generate energy while optimising its use is the key. We cannot work on one side and forget the other.”

Vargas highlights the benefits of using, for example, high-efficiency electric motors and equipment across the country’s economy.

“In many instances it is possible to leverage |available technologies to offer improved operational energy efficiency, which will provide significant savings and a shortened return on investment.”

He cites the operating cost of a pump and its motor life over a period of five years.

Three to five per cent of the cost is the acquisition of the equipment, while up to 4% is attributed to maintenance.

This means that energy consumption accounts for over 90% of the total operating cost.

“If you have a more efficient pump and motor, or start replacing your installed base gradually, a company could see payback in less than a year.”

For example, by using premium efficiency (IE3) motors, as opposed to standard efficiency (IE1) motors, an increase in energy efficiency of between 5% and 30%, depending on the range, can be achieved.

Further, the adoption of a minimum efficiency performance standard for electric motors and other commonly used equipment would significantly reduce the peak power demand on the national grid and promote substantial savings to industry’s electrical energy costs.

There is a need to start adopting integrated, holistic solutions that will reduce energy consumption while diversifying an industry’s own energy mix, as flexible and hybrid self- production becomes an increasing trend.

Industry has been intensifying its focus and striving toward determining new and innovative ways to become more operationally efficient and, as a result, reduce operational expenditure and ensure minimal capital expenditure.

Further, Zest WEG’s parent company invests extensively in tools and software to facilitate the monitoring and management of electrical equipment.

“It is no longer sufficient just to be able to monitor equipment remotely, it is also necessary to be able to analyse this date in a meaningful manner to identify possible gains,” Vargas explains.

The group is leading the way in terms of reliable high performance motors and solutions, such as the Pump Genius and Motor Scan Gateway products on their portfolio.

The most recent, WEG Motor Scan, is the typical Industry 4.0 product and entered South Africa’s market late in 2018, equipping industry with predictive and preventative maintenance capabilities for their electric motors.

The latest add-on, being the Gateway, which is a software and hardware solution launched internationally mid-2019, will extend the performance of the WEG Motor Scan sensor and further optimise the preventive maintenance and monitoring of electric motors.

While Motor Scan stores the data for up to three months and is connected through Bluetooth to manually download information for analytics, the addition of the Gateway will enable live information streaming at all times and enable automatic download and analysis.

“You can change the way you approach maintenance and monitor your operations. Instead of having people running around a site to address issues, you can direct them to specific problem areas.

That not only allows a better use of resources, but frees key technical personnel time to evaluate and propose improvements. This brings real savings on operational costs,” Vargas concludes.