ACTOM puts energy resilience centre stage at Electra Mining Africa

Energy storage, and its potential to reduce its exposure to grid instability, a key development constraint facing Africa, will be the primary focus for ACTOM when it exhibits at Electra Mining Africa in September

Africa’s largest manufacturer, repairer and distributor of electro-mechanical equipment will use the platform to showcase its fast-growing energy storage capability with lithium-ion batteries.

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) will form the core focus of its stand at the Johannesburg Expo Centre, Nasrec, from 7 to 11 September, alongside its latest medium-voltage switchgear.

“Energy storage is the fastest growing area and the biggest opportunity for South African industry to reduce its exposure to grid instability,” said managing director of ACTOM Static Energy, Louis Heyns.

For ACTOM, the opportunity goes beyond supplying another generation of energy technology, however.

Energy storage is becoming an key part of building a more resilient African power system — one that can manage an increasingly unpredictable grid while giving mines and industry greater control over how and when they use electricity.

By developing this capability locally, ACTOM is also positioning energy storage as an industrial opportunity: keeping engineering expertise, manufacturing capability and value creation within South Africa while helping customers become less dependent on an unstable grid and imported solutions.

Local expertise

The September event follows a period of significant growth for ACTOM Static Energy, the business unit formed after ACTOM acquired JUEL Batteries earlier this year and integrated it into a complete energy-storage manufacturing ecosystem at ACTOM’s Pretoria West campus.

ACTOM now produces batteries, inverters, transformers and medium voltage integration systems on a single industrial site, enabling it to test complete, integrated systems in-factory before they reach the market.

“What we provide is unique in that these solutions are not generic, imported offerings,”said Heyns.

“They are locally designed and assembled, tested as complete systems and supported by a company with over a century of engineering credibility in South Africa. That’s the kind of assurance our customers, our energy partners, need when they’re making long-term infrastructure decisions.”

ACTOM’s GELPAG MSS H solid-dielectric insulated switchgear (SIS) family, which ACTOM offers through its MV Switchgear subsidiary, is another new medium-voltage (MV) switchgear product that visitors will be able to view.

The GELPAG SIS provides compact, low-maintenance MV solutions appropriate for containerised substations, PV collector substations, and mining installations with limited space by using epoxy resin-insulated pole modules with embedded vacuum interrupters and earth-screening to remove exposed live conductors and do away with the need for gas-based primary insulation.

The series has undergone type testing in accordance with IEC standards, giving it a proven choice for applications requiring compact, high-integrity MV distribution.

Industry showcase

At its Electra Mining Africa stand, visitors will see how ACTOM’s locally manufactured, end‑to‑end capabilities, from design and assembly to testing and commissioning, deliver durable, bankable solutions and measurable value for mines and industry.

According to Heyns, the exhibition is a place to demonstrate how local engineering and integrated delivery shorten project timelines, reduce risk and keep economic benefit in South Africa.

“Electra Mining Africa brings together precisely the customer base that needs bankable, locally manufactured energy-storage solutions at this time,” he said.

“Mines and industrial operations are under real pressure to secure reliable power, manage rising grid costs and reduce diesel dependency and our lithium-ion batteries and BESS are engineered to meet that demand at scale.”

Mervyn Naidoo, CEO of The ACTOM Group, echoed the sentiment to support African-made products and solutions.

“ACTOM's guiding principle — in Africa, for Africa, by Africa — shapes everything we build. It's why we design, manufacture and test our batteries, inverters and switchgear locally, keeping skills, jobs and know-how here. This is how we deliver bankable solutions for mines and industry, while reducing South Africa's reliance on imports.”

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