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With huge emphasis on renewable energy in Southern Africa, due to the current power issues related to Eskom, the focus has turned to Wind and Photovoltaic farms. These farms have typically been in the outer areas of the country, in large open land areas. However, results show that across South Africa, solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind resources are good enough to be able to produce globally competitive solar and wind power and that over 80% of the land mass has enough wind potential to achieve a 30% average annual load factor. The load factor is a measure for the average utilisation of wind turbines. In countries like Spain and Germany, which are known for their good wind resources, actual average load factors of the entire wind fleets are 25 – 27% and 20 – 23%, respectively. The ‘good wind’ resource is not restricted to the Cape area, as was previously thought, and therefore, wind farms can be established almost everywhere in South Africa.
With PV and wind farms being established in all regions and areas of the country the demand for resources has had to be mobile and efficient. As often these projects are not near established towns. With the Carmix mixers and dumpers being extremely mobile and at the same time rugged they have proven a vital key in the initial setup and construction phases of such farms. Such was the case for a client on the Garob wind Farm project in the Northerncape which is expected to generate about 573 GWh/y from 46 turbines once it becomes fully operational in the first half of 2021.
2 Carmix 3500TC units fitted with the unique Concrete mate weigh batching system, along with a 26m3 horizontal Carsilo were established on site to “break ground”. The initial part of the project is often the slowest as not much is established on site however with the Carmix concrete solution placed on site production was blown out of the water. The system was producing on average 130m3 of concrete per day for various applications and locations. Be it footings, bases, roads, culverts or even fence posts the Carmix system made easy work and ensured the project got off ahead of schedule.
As the rollout of Wind and PV projects continues, the location and layout of the land available is going to become more and more challenging. Contractors will have to adapt construction and material techniques to these changes with on site batching becoming more desirable and, in some instances, the only option.
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After not exhibiting for 4 years, we came back with a bang showcasing our Carmix 45FX! Carmix SA recently exhibited at the Big 5 Construct Southern Africa Expo hosted at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
CARMIX BUILDS A CHICKEN FEED Carmix recently help build a Poultry feed mill at a well-known chicken farm in Lichtenburg. There were some challenges faced, one of the biggest was contending with the rainy season that had just started in Lichtenburg competing with deadlines we had to start working longer shifts. Some of the things that helped us were: Adjusting the mix design to one that work to our advantage with all the rain. The Carmix was built for any types of terrain. The cabin on the 3.5TT is closed and equipped with Clima (air conditioner and heater) which kept the operator comfortable and focused allowing him to discharge accurately. Having well trained and professional operators who have done all the necessary training on how to operate the Carmix. Our Carmix 3.5TT did not disappoint, in the 3 months we were on site we mixed about 1000m3 of concrete, our biggest pour was 200m3 in 24 hours. Site set up and having your aggregates close is important for maximum productivity, on this site they had a 15 000kg cement Silo and two 10 000 litre water tanks only 400 meters from the discharge site which did speed up productivity to get the more loads done within the day. Despite having to deal with wet muddy conditions the Carmix 3.5TT pushed through every challenge thrown at it.