Latest news with #industrialprojects
Zawya
27-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Integrating technical solutions with ESG to advance modern African economies
Good technical solutions lie at the heart of mining and industrial projects that are advancing modern African economies. Good technical solutions lie at the heart of mining and industrial projects that are advancing modern African economies says Andrew van Zyl, managing director of SRK Consulting (South Africa) This is according to Andrew van Zyl, managing director of SRK Consulting (South Africa), who emphasises the alignment with global standards as key to helping clients reach and maintain the highest level of performance and best practice in their operations. Africa Day (Sunday, 25 May) highlights the importance of building resilient economies for social transformation, and the nurturing of consulting engineering expertise across various disciplines will be vital to paving a path to inclusive growth. Evolving regulations 'Technical excellence and high standards rely on experienced and multidisciplinary teams of professionals who can deliver integrity, independence and rigour in their work.' 'When delivering good technical solutions, it is also crucial to consider the regulatory and community context, as these increasingly impact the final result,' he says. He notes, for instance, that a common theme in the industry is the rapidly evolving regulations relating to water, environment, sustainability and governance factors - including the rapid evolution of voluntary and compulsory reporting and requirements and the need for compliance and alignment. Companies like SRK are frequently involved in helping clients to update themselves on these requirements, and to apply them to planned projects to ensure alignment and compliance. Avoiding fatal flaws 'This invariably means the early involvement of environmental, social and governance (ESG) specialists who can work in close collaboration with various technical disciplines,' he explains. 'This lays the foundations for smooth and predictable permitting, so that projects can stay on schedule and avoid fatal flaws.' He points out that most of Africa's leading companies have ambitious sustainability targets, further reinforcing the need for multidisciplinary teams to include ESG professionals to ensure that technical solutions integrate with a range of sustainability concerns. Climate change 'Clients must also be able to monitor and measure their operations and interventions,' he says. 'With the application of digital and other technologies, consulting engineers are playing an important role in helping clients to gather relevant data and to use it to drive their sustainability agendas.' Climate change considerations are being factored into projects right from the design stage, so that future environmental conditions can be modelled and designs adjusted appropriately. There have been growing numbers of high rainfall events in South Africa, for example, which place additional strain on infrastructure. Professional platforms To foster the necessary expertise for high quality projects, professionals in various engineering and scientific disciplines are not only passing on their experience to younger entrants but are building their institutions for the good of broader society. Being a company of professional natural scientists and engineers, SRK Consulting (SA) belongs to various industry and professional bodies and contributes to the overall practice of the different professions. 'We are involved on the council of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, for instance, as well as on the committees that manage the SAMREC and SAMVAL reporting codes and bodies such as the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA),' he says. 'We encourage our staff to get involved in professional organisations and events, especially knowledge sharing through talks and conferences. 'Through being active members of these bodies, we can help keep them relevant to industry needs through ongoing innovation and raising professional standards.' Helping standards evolve By promoting standards through its ongoing project work, SRK Consulting (SA) has been part of the process of guiding the practical application and evolution of standards. In terms of aspects such as reporting standards, its close collaboration with the relevant bodies means that it has a good understanding of how to apply these standards. This allows the company's professionals to provide important feedback from the market on how to keep requirements manageable and realistic. 'An interesting aspect of our work is that it often has not only a local component but a regional or even multi-national component,' he says. 'A mining project in the DRC will be driven by our Lubumbashi office but may draw in specialists from South Africa or Ghana. 'Where the owner of the project is based in China, our work may also involve experts from one of our offices in China.' Quality design Van Zyl acknowledges that there is considerable change and uncertainty in the market currently, but he highlighted that good engineering design underpins every successful project. Such design quality ensures cost-effective solutions that reduce waste and minimise risk to communities and staff. 'These factors remain a priority for clients throughout Africa, irrespective of the prevailing economic, social and political climate,' he says.
Zawya
26-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Oman's power demand set to surge
As many as 15 major private sector-led industrial and commercial projects will be plugged into Oman's national grid over the next two years, bolstering electricity demand by nearly 2,000 megawatts (MW) and driving a new phase of national economic growth. In its annual report published last week, the Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC), the majority state-owned grid operator, said the projects are distributed across the industrial, mineral processing, data center processing, water desalination, and oil and gas segments of the country's economy. Topping the list, by power demand size, is the $1.35 billion polysilicon production plant of United Solar Polysilicon (USP), which is currently in an advanced stage of development at Sohar Freezone. With maximum power demand estimated at 800 MW, the USP project will be the largest to be connected to the grid via a 400/220kV grid station during 2025, OETC said. Also notable are two major data hubs, each with a power demand of 200 MW, which will be connected to the grid this year. Salalah-based Green Data City, which operates the country's first license for sustainable crypto-mining, will be connected to the 132kV Ashoor grid station with installed capacity of 200 MW in 2025. In the second phase, the hub will be expanded to reach 400MW hyperscale data centre capacity. In 2027, the oilfield operations of Occidental of Oman (Oxy) will be connected to the grid, starting with planned hookups to the 132kV Wadi Latham grid station with installed capacity of 120 MW, followed by another connection to the 132kV Safah grid station with installed capacity of 65 MW. Sohar Freezone, a major hub for heavy industry, will witness a number of linkages to the national grid during the course of this year. JA Solar, which is establishing a major solar PV module plant with an investment of 217.3 million Omani rials, will be connected to the SFZ grid station in 2025 with an installed capacity of 88 MW, according to OETC. Sanvera Carbon's prebaked anode production facility, a key ingredient in the aluminium smelting and mining sectors, will also be connected to the 132kV SFZ grid station in 2025 with generation capacity of 24MW this year. This will be followed by the linkage of the smelter of Star Ferro Alloys to the same grid in Sohar Freezone next year, with an installed capacity of 18 MW. Also slated for grid connection are the Duqm Cement plant (installed capacity of 29.95 MW) in 2026; Oman Cement to the 132kV Misfah grid station in 2027 with total installed capacity of 80 MW; and the Ghubrah III Independent Water Project to the 132kV Ghubrah grid station in 2027 with installed capacity of 50.8 MW. (Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
CBC
08-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Nova Scotia streamlines reviews of industrial projects
For the first time since 2008, the province has made major changes to the way it evaluates new industrial projects. The environment minister says he wants to approve more projects faster and he promises that can be done while still protecting the environment. Taryn Grant reports.
