Energy and automation company Schneider Electric launched its first Innovation Hub in Africa at its new head office in Midrand, Gauteng.

The Innovation Hub now forms part of Schneider Electric’s global network of over 40 registered Innovation Hubs and brings to life the company’s vision of sustainability and digitalisation for customers, partners and stakeholders across the continent.

It provides an interactive environment where visitors can explore the company’s integrated solutions across key segments and businesses such as energy, buildings, data centres, industry and power and grid.

At a launch event on June 11, Schneider Electric Anglophone Africa cluster president Canninah Dladla highlighted the company's commitment to Africa's energy future and the need for solutions, describing the Innovation Hub as a space for creativity and collaboration to address energy challenges in Africa.

“We're bringing global innovation closer to home, right here in Joburg,” she expressed.

The Innovation Hub offers a guided, customised experience whereby customers and visitors are guided through various tailored spaces.

This includes the software portfolio, highlighting AVEVA Operations Control, eTAP and various EcoStruxure software solutions; industrial automation solutions, featuring live conveyor systems and EcoStruxure plant and machine tables with control units, sensors and industrial intelligence; and building solutions, showcasing various control offers for the building sector, from access, lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and room control.

The Innovation Hub also showcases power and grid solutions, highlighting low and medium voltage equipment, the company’s acclaimed sulfur hexafluoride- (SF₆-) free AirSet switchgear series, protection relays and microgrid solutions; and secure power displays, with a live server room view demonstrating Schneider Electric’s data centre and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) solutions.

In line with the company’s global standards for Innovation Hubs, the space has been designed to be flexible and evolving, therefore, showcasing the company’s newest innovation and solutions.

The Innovation Hub can be booked in advance by partners, consultants or system integrators who want to showcase specific solutions to their clients. The space can then be customised to demonstrate specific industry solutions.

The environment is also staffed by a trained Innovation Hub managers and operations specialists, with plans to scale this further through Schneider Electric’s global Innovation Hub Ambassador Programme, which will enable employees from across the organisation to guide visitors, when needed.

Also speaking at the launch, Schneider Electric Middle East and Africa zone president Walid Sheta highlighted three issues that the company aims to address, namely energy security, sustainability and economic development.

“Schneider Electric has chosen this vision to empower everyone – all the customers across segments, governments, industrial cities, as well as buildings and even residential areas – to challenge that status quo and give the results.

“Schneider Electric calls that ‘Life is on’. Through that, we provide better access to energy in a sustainable way to our customers across the globe and in Africa in particular,” he said.

“The Innovation Hub is made for all our partners, colleagues and customers to get enriched by the technology,” he added, noting that the software and digitisation solutions offered are expected to become the future of the company’s technology.

SUSTAINABILITY

The Innovation Hub is hosted within Schneider Electric’s new headquarters, which has a 20% smaller footprint than the company’s previous premises.

The building also features important sustainability gains such as 37% lower energy consumption a month; 34% less water usage a month and 32 t less CO₂ emissions monthly.

Further boosting its environmental performance, the headquarters features a 200 kW rooftop solar installation, contributing to 15 t of CO₂ reduction monthly.

A full microgrid solution with battery energy storage system is planned, which again demonstrates the company’s commitment to establishing an environment built on renewable and sustainable energy practices.

The building also integrates Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Buildings Operation and Power Monitoring software, housed within the Innovation Hub and which allows for intelligent control of lighting and HVAC – within the Innovation Hub – and surrounding customer-facing areas.

“The building is not only our new address . . . It reflects our deep investment in the region and our leadership in sustainability and in building designs,” Dladla said.

The company said in a media release that the launch of the Innovation Hub in Africa builds on Schneider Electric’s global strategy to bring its technology closer to its customers on the African continent, while reinforcing its leadership in sustainability, innovation and digitisation.

“Digitalisation is an important aspect of technology that brings a competitive environment,” said Schneider Electric South Africa chairperson Dr Anna Mokgokong.

“Embracing digitisation and continuous investment in electricity and energy availability is a must to drive competitiveness, and we must keep pace with ever changing societal needs and be willing to adopt changing technology . . . education and innovation depend on access to energy, particularly in poverty-stricken areas,” she continued.