Dry-type transformer specialist Trafo Power Solutions supplied four transformers for use in standby diesel generator sets in the Western Cape province. 

The transformers will step up the 400 Volt supply from the generators to serve the 11 kV networks at customer sites. Two 2000 kVA gensets were supplied into a Cape Town hospital and multiple 550 kVA gensets to a West Coast company in the fishery sector. 

This contract further expands Trafo Power Solutions’ installed base of dry-type transformers in the province, where it has seen considerable growth in recent years, according to the company’s managing director David Claassen. 

“We design our transformers for the demanding and corrosive conditions in this coastal area,” says Claassen. “The sealed windings of these cast resin transformers are well suited to the harsh environment, and related elements such as the enclosures are all stainless steel and specially treated.”

He says the low-loss transformers conform with the European directive on energy efficiency, ensuring customers can control their power consumption costs in the face of rising electricity prices. Part of Trafo Power Solutions’ value-added service included arranging the necessary logistics as well as commissioning of the units. 

With their high safety levels and low risk to the environment, dry-type transformers have become a popular choice globally across a range of industry sectors. These include mining, food and beverage, marine, rail, and oil and gas. Trafo Power Solutions’ offerings also include custom-designed solutions for dry-type miniature substations, dry-type reactors (or inductors), and temperature control and protection relays for electric motors, generators and transformers.

One of the challenges successfully overcome with the gensets supplied to the Cape Town hospital was tying the control philosophy of the new gensets to the customer’s existing network and being able to control existing equipment in that infrastructure. 

The six 550 kVA prime rated locally manufactured gensets for the fishery sector are driven by Volvo engines and form part of the plant room. This project involved extensive electrical design work and the supply of all the cable work related to the equipment in the power plant. In addition, the plant room synchronises with Eskom and had to be approved by this power utility.