WEG Africa has become the first original equipment manufacturer to produce medium voltage (MV) soft starters in South Africa.

The WEG SSW7000 units, used in pump and fan applications in Africa’s mining sector, are produced at WEG Africa’s Robertsham facility south of Johannesburg.

“The immediate benefit to customers is that we can almost halve the lead time from 20 to 24 weeks to 10 weeks by removing the need for long-distance shipping from WEG’s Brazil facilities,” says Pervin Gurie, Director of the Digital and Systems Division at WEG Africa.

He adds that users are looking for ways to address the rising cost of electricity and to protect their electric motors and extend their operational lifecycle. Soft starters allow a gentle ramp-up of power as electric motors are started, reducing the peak energy demand during startup. Motors with a conventional direct-on-line starting will draw up to 700% more than rated current while a soft starter can reduce this to just 300%.

The local manufacturing capability will include continued customisation of MV soft starters with units designed to meet specific requirements in customers’ applications. The solutions can also be packaged in a containerised substation as was the case with a recent order for a mining customer in Angola.

“The order of 11 units we built last year was delivered in three containerised substations and could be easily transported and installed on site for quick commissioning,” Gurie says. “We have also found that customers in Africa have particular needs such as extra space in their panels to accommodate thicker cables with less flexibility.”

He sees ongoing potential for the WEG SSW7000 range, which includes a monitoring feature that tracks whether the electric motor is overheating or drawing excessive current. This enables shutdown of the motor before damage is caused.