ACTOM has expanded lithium-ion battery assembly and high-voltage equipment manufacturing at its Pretoria West campus where complete battery energy storage systems (BESS) can now be integrated and tested.
“We’ve transformed this into an industrial campus that fully integrates the manufacturing of large power transformers, high-voltage equipment and lithium-ion BESS,” said ACTOM Group CEO Mervyn Naidoo.
The expansion follows ACTOM’s acquisition of JUEL Batteries, which is now ACTOM Static Energy. Battery production capacity has since increased tenfold, Naidoo said.
“What really is unique this time around is that our inverter and battery systems come out of the same factory,” ACTOM Static Energy Technical Director Larry Schmidt told Energize. “We supply from the battery to the container and from the inverter to the energy management system. We can supply the transformer and the ring main unit – it’s a complete system.”
The product range includes 5 kWh and 16 kWh residential batteries operating at 52 V and a 110 V, 10 kWh battery for substation tripping applications. Modular commercial and industrial systems can be configured from 115 V to 1 500 V DC while containerised systems range from 3,6 MWh to 6,2 MWh, Schmidt said. The current systems are AC-coupled with DC-coupled systems under development.
Lithium-ion cells and some printed circuit boards are imported while the containers, mechanical structures, assembly and testing are completed locally, according to Schmidt and ACTOM Static Energy Managing Director Louis Heyns.
“From a mechanical point of view, everything’s done locally,” Heyns said. “We have appointed engineers to increase localisation of electronic components.”
Power transformer production capacity at the campus has increased fourfold with units rated up to 500 MVA and 400 kV now being manufactured, Naidoo said. Circuit breaker manufacturing capacity has doubled and instrument transformer production has also been expanded.
