Electricity and Control November 2021

DRIVES, MOTORS + SWITCHGEAR

The switchgear solution for Africa’s biggest retail distribution facility

Finding energy- and cost-efficient solutions to the operational challenges that the warehousing and distribution sector currently faces across Africa is a high priority, particularly for the continent’s retail giants.

S outh Africa’s national utility has been under immense strain in recent years, with ongoing load shedding causing outages across the country. Alternative power management solutions have become crucial for industry. This is the case too for large retailers that need to ensure optimum shelf life for perishable goods in cold storage. With the opening of its 123 000 m 2 Whitey Basson Distri- bution Park in the Western Cape, Shoprite – Africa’s largest food retailer – needed to find the right switchgear solution for the power distribution system at its most technologically advanced distribution centre. The centre consists of three warehouses, one of which is completely devoted to cold storage. It handles goods from some 500 suppliers and stores thousands of products. Marcel Buckner, ESS Business Development Manager for Eaton Africa, says, “At the time the facility was designed, load shedding was causing an average of two power out- ages a day in the Cape Town area and at that rate, conven- tional switchgear, which generally lasts between 2 000 and 3 000 operations, would need to be replaced every three

to four years. Shoprite would have incurred additional maintenance costs due to the un- planned outages. The installed Eaton Xiria E switchgear, offering the user a higher number of operations, has helped to alleviate this.” Professional engineering services consult- ing firm, WSP Africa, worked with the global

Marcel Buckner, Eaton Africa.

power management solution company, Eaton, and devel- oped a medium voltage (MV) power distribution system us- ing Eaton’s Xiria E extendible switchgear. This would provide a 10 000-operation switchgear solu- tion, also allowing for a more flexible power distribution sys- tem with a broad range of protection and control options, and the possibility for future extensions of the secondary switchgear system. Saverio Talotti, Regional Director at WSP Africa explains that Eaton’s Xiria E MV switchgear made the most sense economically, as well as environmentally, “both in terms of upfront costs and total cost of ownership – and made a huge difference that had a major impact on the project cost and future costs.

Eaton’s Xiria E SF 6 -free MV switchgear delivers reliability, durability and cost-efficiency for the Shoprite Distribution Centre near Cape Town.

Electricity + Control NOVEMBER 2021

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