THEY say that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.
And while we all appreciate the consequences of having no electrical energy during periods of loadshedding, using what we do have efficiently and wisely receives little attention compared with having none at all.
CBN editor Robin Hayes interviews Alwyn Rautenbach, CEO of Iritron Group – a firm that specializes in the measurement and control of energy in its various forms, to discover how they have embraced energy recovery and found new applications for solar power.
Rautenbach explains the philosophy:
“The advent of loadshedding has focused the mind on using what energy we do have as effectively and efficiently as possible and the far sighted amongst us realise that we only use a fraction of the energy provided for a process or service, the rest simply goes to waste, especially when it’s in the form of heat that can be recovered from exhaust gases for example.
By controlling and measuring energy in a process it soon becomes apparent how much energy is wasted that can be recovered and put to good use in lowering energy consumption and of course cost.
Combined cycle gas turbine generators are a good example where efficiencies and fuel consumption are vastly improved by recycling exhaust heat energy.
This philosophy applies across the board and has led us into designing energy recovery systems that measure water quality or the exhaust gases from platinum smelters.
There is nothing that gets people thinking differently about energy than suddenly having to do without and the consequences to a business that formally accepted plentiful electrical energy as a given.
Our involvement with measurement and control of electrical energy usage has led us into firstly into energy recovery projects and latterly into looking at ways where solar power can be put to good use in powering sophisticated ‘hi-tech’ processes.
Our geographic position of the globe presents us with an infinite source of ever present energy unlike the burning of a fossil fuel which once burnt is gone. Extracting every ounce of energy from fossil fuels such as coal, gas, petrol or diesel makes complete sense but striving for increased efficiency involves an upfront cost which is quickly amortised in the process.
Our engineers have been involved in a multitude of energy recovery projects where the burning of alternative fuels have resulted in meaningful power generation – the burning of macadamia nut husks previously considered a waste product, allowed one client to generate 2MW of electrical power with the installation of steam raising plant, turbines and generators.
Similar wins have been achieved by the sugar industry in the burning of bagasse – the waste product from sugar manufacture.
Extracting heat from process exhaust gases once cleaned or scrubbed has led to meaningful power generation in a number of industries.
Our obsession with the measurement and control of energy has led us into the establishment of a new solar division that examines how solar power can be put to effective use in industries as diverse as mining and agriculture.
In addition to the now conventional roof mounted solar panels, batteries and inverter technology, we have developed solar trailers – tow behind units that feature solar panels and control systems that can provide remote power supplies using only the sun as the energy source.
These have found a market in open cast mining where remote / robotic drilling platforms used for the placing of explosives are connected remotely via wi-fi to a single controller, physically located kilometres from the actual site. This remote working prevents personnel being exposed to potential safety issues coupled with more efficient mining operations.
Our solar trailers have also found an application amongst wine growers who traditionally have had to harvest crops at night when temperatures are lower, leading to less spoilage of the crop. With our solar trailers powering refrigeration equipment, harvesting of grapes can now take place in daytime without spoilage of the crop.
A similar application is found amongst the hunting fraternity allowing the on-site cooling of kill carcasses to preserve the quality of game meat.
We expect great things from this new division with a number of new applications presenting themselves virtually everyday. A good example being the unfortunate culling of 10 million chicks at a chicken producer premises where loadshedding interfered with the production cycle and strict temperature controlled environment.
“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good…” he concluded.
