Electricity and Control April 2025

Energy management + energy e iciency

Low voltage stabilisation system – a pilot project

A. Eberle Africa (Pty) Ltd, based in Durban, South Africa, and A. Eberle GmbH & Co. KG, based in Nuremberg, Germany, recently showcased the first Low Voltage Regulation System (LVRSys®) installed in South Africa at the head o‘ice of Siemens Sub-Saharan Africa in Midrand. The success of this pilot project, already operational for about nine months, demonstrates the system’s capabilities and opens the way to its wider use in improving power stability and e‘iciency within critical infrastructure – and, over the longer term, strengthening South Africa’s electrical grid.

D eveloped in Germany and tailored for the South African market, the LVRSys® system is designed to mitigate power disruptions, support energy-intensive industries, and contribute to sustainable energy practices. Electricity + Control attended the unveiling of the pilot in stallation at the head oice of Siemens Sub-Saharan Africa, where the LVRSys® serves to safeguard the stability of electrici ty supply specifically for the Siemens data centre. The project is supported by the Federal Ministry of Eco nomic Aairs and Climate Action of Germany, as part of the Renewable Energy Solutions Programme of the German En ergy Solutions Initiative and on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag. It was implemented by dena, the German Energy Agency, working in collaboration with A. Eberle Africa and A. Eberle, Germany. The unveiling brought together repre sentatives from all these stakeholders: the German Ambassa dor in South Africa, Andreas Peschke, alongside hosts Sabine Dall’Omo, CEO of Siemens Sub-Saharan Africa, and Marco Rahner, Sales Director of Siemens Smart Infrastructure, Clau dia Ardelean of the German Energy Agency, and A. Eberle Afri ca’s Managing Directors, Till Sybel and Brian Howarth. This is a reflection of the well-recognised potential of this cutting-edge technology for widespread application across South Africa, to fortify grid resilience and energy eiciency.

The South African context The demands on electricity distribution networks are changing world wide. With the wider use of photovoltaic and other renewable energy sources, voltage fluctuations increase, and the growing use of elec tricity across dierent sectors of the economy changes once familiar demand patterns to new cycles of usage. Although in South Africa the focus to date has been mainly on se curing baseload capacity and ensuring electricity availability, the con tinuing expansion of renewable energy sources feeding into the grid – as well as concerns around inadequate maintenance and develop ment, plus high levels of vandalism and theœ – are raising a growing need to attend to grid stability. This is where technological solutions for eicient voltage stabilisa tion across grids at all levels can deliver significant benefits. The pilot installation The Siemens data centre in Midrand was previously reliant on an outdated system that no longer met its requirements. It was based on servo motor regulation with mechanical step adjustment, which presented significant limitations – including a long response time of several minutes and a frequent need for maintenance, which meant the server was down for extended periods of time. For Siemens, the decision to replace the existing system with LVRSys® was easy. It oers reliable and robust technology that enables high-precision voltage regulation with a response time of less than 30 milliseconds, eectively compensating for voltage fluctuations which had previously been problematic. The LVRSys® Low Voltage Regulation System ensures continuous and reliable operation of Siemens’ critical data centre infrastructure. A smaller scale model of the LVRSys® Low Voltage Regulation System was on display at the event. Guests also had the opportunity to visit the pilot installation in-situ.

At present, the whole system is manufactured in Germany, but the aim is to establish a local assembly facility here, then import only the electronics from Germany.

APRIL 2025 Electricity + Control

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