By Eamonn Ryan
Renewable energy integration is becoming increasingly important across South Africa’s HVAC&R sector, where energy-intensive facilities such as cold storage warehouses, commercial buildings, data centres, industrial refrigeration plants and healthcare facilities are under pressure to improve energy efficiency and reduce operating costs. As more organisations invest in solar photovoltaic (PV), battery energy storage systems (BESS) and hybrid energy solutions, ensuring reliable grid connection and seamless plant operation has become critical.
Herman Mare, general manager at ACTOM Smart Technologies.
Supplied by ACTOM Smart Technologies
While much attention is given to primary electrical infrastructure, the success of any renewable energy installation often depends on the effectiveness of its secondary plant systems – the protection, control, automation and communication technologies that enable safe, compliant and efficient operation. When these systems are poorly integrated, projects can experience costly delays, commissioning challenges and compliance issues.
In this two-part series, Herman Mare, general manager at ACTOM Smart Technologies, explores why a unified Secondary Plant Integration (SPI) approach is becoming essential for renewable energy projects and how integrated protection and control solutions can help developers, EPCs and facility operators accelerate project delivery while ensuring grid compliance.
South Africa’s renewable energy sector is expanding at a rapid pace, but the speed of project delivery is often slowed by a familiar and avoidable challenge: fragmented secondary plant integration.
When protection systems, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) development, plant-level automation and grid code compliance are managed by multiple suppliers, the result is frequently misaligned designs, conflicting interfaces and commissioning delays that cost developers both time and money.
According to Herman Mare, general manager at ACTOM Smart Technologies, as projects become larger and more complex, the industry can no longer afford the inefficiencies created by siloed engineering.
“This is the gap ACTOM Protection & Control’s Secondary Plant Integration (SPI) solution is designed to close. By consolidating all secondary systems under a single accountable partner, SPI provides a unified, end-to-end approach that supports compliance, reduces risk and accelerates energisation,” explains Mare.
Why multi-vendor secondary systems create project delays
One of the most common causes of delays in renewable energy projects is the lack of co-ordination between suppliers responsible for different aspects of the primary and secondary systems. Vendors often design and test their equipment independently, without complete visibility of how their systems will interact once installed on site.
The consequences typically only become apparent during integrated testing, when delays are most costly. “When mismatches arise between plant-level systems and substation controls, teams must scramble to identify the source of the issue. This leads to finger-pointing, duplicated troubleshooting and extended periods where the site stands still,” says Mare.
Every day lost during commissioning increases accommodation expenses, travel costs and contractor fees, while also pushing back the project’s commercial operation date.
Creating a single engineering framework
ACTOM’s SPI solution addresses these challenges by bringing primary and secondary plant functions together within a co-ordinated architecture. Instead of separately managing protection relays, SCADA, plant data acquisition systems, communication interfaces and Eskom integration requirements, SPI aligns all these elements within a single engineering framework.
This integrated approach ensures that:
- Protection schemes and control logic work seamlessly with plant-level systems.
- SCADA and automation functions align with substation requirements.
- Communication channels support both plant operational requirements and grid code compliance.
- All system components are engineered to work together before arriving on site.
“By engineering the entire system under one roof, the solution removes the mismatches that typically emerge when multiple vendors work independently,” Mare points out.
For renewable energy developers, EPC contractors and energy-intensive facilities, a unified secondary plant strategy can significantly reduce project risk while improving delivery certainty.
Source: Supplied by ACTOM Smart Technologies
