Although Steinmüller Africa has had to scale down its Pretoria West manufacturing facility in recent years to align with lower demand, the company is optimistic about growth prospects as a result of growing momentum in the procurement of new national power generation capacity.

Director Moso Bolofo tells Engineering News that the company had scaled down of its manufacturing facility from 50 000 m² to 30 000 m² largely following a pullback on new industrial plants, owing to South Africa’s shrinking economy.

“However, the prospect for gross domestic product growth exists, as the country recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic and implements economic reforms.”

As new energy plant projects have become limited, Steinmüller kept busy with maintenance projects and the life extension of existing plants in the sectors it operates in, including power generation, chemical and petrochemicals, refineries, mining beneficiation, pulp and paper, as well as sugar mills.

“We are keeping a keen eye on the development of independent power producers, which all invariably need to set up new plants, as well as the mining industry as new self-generation projects come about,” Bolofo states.

As it stands, Steinmüller has been involved in enquiries for the supply of concentrated solar power plant in the Northern Cape and considers any steam-using operation as a possible new customer irrespective of its primary energy source, including gas and hydrogen operations.

Steinmüller also intends to play an important role in mitigating emissions from existing plants by retrofitting equipment that reduces undesirable gas particulates and thereby “cleans up” plant operations.

Bolofo points out that the company plans on expanding its supply of manufactured goods into sub-Saharan Africa and consequently the footprint of its Pretoria West manufacturing facility.

For example, he notes that there are power generation system upgrades happening in Nigeria, which Steinmüller is well suited to cater for. Furthermore, Steinmüller is also keeping abreast of gas pipeline developments in neighbouring countries and will seek to participate in any expansion opportunities that arise.

OPERATIONS

Steinmüller has a 60-year history in South Africa, providing comprehensive solutions for steam generation and reticulation process plants, in every phase of their life cycle.

The company has supplied boilers as original-equipment manufacturer to power stations exceeding 19 000 MW in combined size for State-owned energy utility Eskom. These stations include Grootvlei, Hendrina, Kriel, Duvha, Tutuka and Majuba power stations and the construction of Matimba power station. Additionally, the company manufactured sections of the boilers at the newly built Medupi and Kusile power stations as subcontractors to Hitachi.

Currently, the company provides maintenance and repair services for the Arnot, Camden, Duvha, Kriel, Majuba, Hendrina, Kendal and Kusile power stations.

Steinmüller has manufacturing capacity for two-million productive hours a year at its Pretoria facility and has 60 engineers on hand to develop, manufacture, install or retrofit components.

Its manufacturing facility contains specialised pieces of equipment, including a R100-million specialised induction bending machine called Cojafex PB 850, capable of bending pipes between 48.3 mm (outside diameter) and 850 mm (outside diameter) with a wall thickness up to 100 mm.

Steinmüller also offers explosive welding, which is crucial to the integrity of high-pressure parts including heat exchangers.