E+C August 2018

dustry will turn towards hybrid applications saying that the company was recently contacted by an engineering consultant in CapeTown to assess the design development of a desalinisation plant to deal with water shortage. "They were considering a dual fuel solution, and we were able to suggest a hybrid scenario using gas and diesel," he said. He says the next 50 years in Africa will be inter- esting, as renewable energy costs decrease. How- ever, he cautions, it is not that easy to execute a renewables project in Africa because the logistics are challenging and, despite the increasing trend towards renewables, a generator set will always be required as a dispatchable power base to meet demand. Speaking to Zest WEG Group's future, Kotze sees it aligning towards microgrid solutions, espe- cially for communities; moving into power pools; and establishing more plants such as Syrah Bal- ama in Mozambique. The challenge here is that every country in Africa has its own localisation programme, which makes it difficult, as the skills in each country are not always available. ZestWEG

hopes the company will continue to build on its standard and premier ranges of generator sets (10 kVA-3 350 kVA, 50/60 Hz). "In addition to being able to do a project that is complex, we are looking at developing our stand- ard range of equipment because there are still so many countries without electricity looking for a solution. This would enable us to enter different markets and extend our distributor network." With the increasing call for gensets in standby power applications, it is necessary for specifiers to fully understand the operational requirement of these units, and then apply this knowledge to the engine selection. “An area where cost savings can be achieved without impacting on the reliability or operation of a standby genset, is the engine,” Kotze explains. “An engine in a standby power application will run for limited duration during power outages, yet we often see tenders requesting top-of-the- range premium brand engines that are completely over-specified for this function. Not only is this a waste of capital expenditure but it could also affect the operating costs.” Kotze says it is far more pragmatic to allow the genset original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to assist in advising and specifying a fit-for-purpose en- gine. He explains that the engine in a standby gen- set would have an estimated run time of 250 hours a year with a maximum of 80% average load factor. Zest WEG Group, which has eight branches in South Africa, as well as registered business- es in Mozambique, Zambia, Namibia, Liberia and Ghana, already has distributors in Angola, Botswa- na, Cameroon, the DRC, Madagascar, Mali, Mau- ritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Kotze believes that in time the generator set in-

Standby diesel generators are

vital for businesses that have process plants or are

involved in production.

Enquiries: Tel. +27 (0) 11 723 6000. Email. marketing@zestweg.com or visit www.zestweg.com

Group manages this by training local people who will work at the power plant and, by do- ing so, adds value. "As an integrated en- ergy solution provider, we supply and install an array of products from our many divisions across the Zest WEST Group. This positions us well for decades to come in the future," Kotze concludes.

One of seven 3000 kVA MTU/WEG gensets sup- plied to Balama in Mozambique.

Electricity + Control

AUGUST 2018

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