Modern Quarrying Q4 2019

Scania engines are at the heart of a Western Cape- based quarry’s production.

ON THE COVER

Located in a far flung area in Malmesbury, Western Cape, with no grid electricity connection in the vicinity, a Great Karoo Crushing owned quarry is running completely off the grid, relying on prime power supplied by a fleet of four generators powered by Scania engines, writes Munesu Shoko. POWERING OFF-THE- GRID PRODUCTION

W hen Great Karoo Crushing electricity connection. The company had two choices, either to folk out millions of rands to get connected, or to go the generator route on a prime basis. The second option made sense, both from a cost perspective and reliability point of view. Bear in mind that South Africa is currently experiencing an electricity crisis. A structural shortage of electricity supply remains one of the country’s most critical challenges going forward as legacy infrastructure ages and replacement is long overdue. With its four generators powered by the DC 16 power generation Scania engine, proving to be fuel-efficient and reliable, the quarry is flying established its quarry just outside Malmesbury, one of the key contests was that the location is very far from utility

high with no electricity disruptions to its 18-hour a day operating schedule. Reliable and cost-effective Johan Louw, engines manager at Scania South Africa, says the quarry relies on two 700 kVA and two 500 kVA for all its power needs. At the heart of the four gensets is Scania’s DC16 engine, which, according to Louw, is proving to be a reliable and cost-effective power source. From a fuel consump- tion perspective, the quarry is recording about 105 litres of diesel consumption per hour on each unit. Louw is adamant that these fuel consumption figures are hard to beat. “No any other manufacturer will beat the Scania engine fuel efficiency,” he says. “As a result, we have had several enquiries from other quarries considering the off-the-grid route. We have proven, especially in prime power applications, that the Scania engine

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MODERN QUARRYING QUARTER 4 - 2019