A mine’s multi-million-rand modernisation project was on schedule: haul roads graded, crushers installed, and processing plant foundations poured.

But the substation construction hit a bottleneck. Coordination gaps, procurement delays, and safety issues caused setbacks. The weather didn’t help either. What was meant to happen last week became next month’s problem. Equipment remained unpowered, commissioning schedules slipped, and temporary measures put a strain on budgets.

At mines, process plants, and manufacturing facilities, substations are not afterthoughts. They are the site's heartbeat, forming part of core infrastructure and managing the power supply to critical equipment, such as the motors driving conveyors, pumps, and processing machinery.

During construction, substations often emerge as late-stage bottlenecks that stall otherwise well-managed projects. When diverse teams converge—from design houses and consulting engineers to equipment vendors and construction crews—the risk of confusion and delay rises sharply. Misaligned technical standards, fragmented communication, and procurement holdups ripple through to testing and commissioning, amplifying risk exposure and operational strain.

Gerhardt van Rooyen, Projects Manager at WEG Africa, notes that these problems often escalate during the construction and commissioning phases.

"Typically, on-site construction begins with a brick-and-mortar substation building. Once completed, all the equipment is installed, followed by extensive interconnecting cabling and testing. It’s at this stage that delays often set in. Multiple disciplines need access at the same time, schedules overlap, and frustrations inevitably start to build," says van Rooyen.

Substations Deployed Faster and Smarter

This conventional approach now has a better alternative: the WEG E-house.

E-houses are modular, prefabricated units manufactured and fully tested at WEG’s South African facilities. Each E-house is designed, assembled, fitted with equipment sourced from WEG and other vendors, and tested to client and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) benchmarks. Once completed, the E-houses are shipped to the site for rapid installation and commissioning, drastically shortening project timelines.

WEG has helped numerous projects avoid the above bottlenecks through modular, factory-built substations. In one recent project, the WEG E-house team reduced substation construction, deployment, and commissioning to under a year; not just for one substation but seven, including a central control room powering a complete gold concentrator plant.

Avoiding Chaos Through a Startup Mindset

E-house innovation helped create the momentum, yet their entrepreneurial mindset toward solving clients’ challenges deserves much of the credit.

"Multiple contractors trying to all be in the same space can create complete chaos. E-houses relieve the customer of that pressure. It’s a one-stop integrated solution provider. We take on all the risks as a single contractor," says Tyrone Willemse, Senior Manager at WEG Africa.

He adds that skilled design, manufacturing, procurement, and logistics teams are important, but the real differentiator lies in the team’s can-do approach: "It’s important to have an entrepreneurial spirit when delivering new concepts like fully integrated E-houses. We treat ourselves like a startup. We take nothing for granted. We’re always learning, and there’s no job too big or too small for any of us."

Professionalism, risk awareness, and adaptability are vital to a substation project’s success, beginning long before construction. WEG’s collaboration with site owners, consulting engineers, and design houses defines specifications, standards, and procurement requirements early in the project lifecycle. When the substation phase begins, contractors step into the client’s world, taking full ownership and responsibility.

"The client’s problems become our problems. We roll with the punches. We become part of their team—we sit in the same boardroom, drink the same coffee; we just don’t go to the bathroom together!" adds van Rooyen with a smile.

Engineering Reliability Through Collaboration

E-houses represent a significant leap forward over traditional substation models, significantly reducing delays in construction, deployment, and testing. Despite inevitable challenges, the team behind WEG's E-houses remains committed, guided by a startup spirit of ownership and innovation.

"You’re only as good as your last job—we never forget that," concludes Willemse.