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MechChem Africa
•
February 2017
V
&A Waterfront’s Silo District is
built around the historic Grain Silo
complex,oncethetalleststructures
on the city’s skyline and central to
the economy of the harbour and theWestern
Province.
Nearingcompletion,theV&AWaterfront’s
Silo District is already home to a six-star
Green Star SA office space, more than 30
luxury apartments in Silos 1 and 2 respec-
tively; and an additional residential develop-
ment, aVirginActiveClassicHealthClub, and
a super-modern office building in Silos 3 to 5.
Currentlybeingfinalised, the state-of-the-
art ZeitzMOCAA in the Grain Silo complex is
anewpublicnot-for-profitculturalinstitution,
thefirstmajorartmuseuminAfricaaspiringto
be an internationally-renowned destination
for lovers of Art fromAfrica and theDiaspora.
The total investment in the Silo District
developmentattheV&AWaterfrontbyshare-
holders Growthpoint and the Government
Employee Pension Fund, which is managed
by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC),
is over R2.5-billion.
Approximately 2500 people are expected
to work at the Silo District, with the original
economic impact study suggesting that the
expected nominal contribution to GDP from
future developments will be over R29-billion
by 2023.
A district-wide HVAC solution
“Carrier’s involvement with the Silo District
beganwith a request fromDavid Lombard of
Lombard Consulting Engineers, who asked
several service providers to identify the
best equipment available for a centralised
Waterfront Silo District cooling and heating
plant room,” says AHI Carrier’s Jaco Smal.
“The idea was to supply on-demand chilled
and heated water from a central plant room
to air-handling units distributed throughout
Silos 3 to 6.
“Attheheartofthesystemistheuseofsea-
water instead of evaporative cooling towers
Global HVAC specialist
sponsors art in Africa
In keeping with its historic hi-tech heating, air-conditioning
and refrigeration success protecting Michelangelo’s
masterpieces in the Sistine Chapel, AHI Carrier has
announced a R600 000 sponsorship for the Zeitz
Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) at the
V&AWaterfront in Cape Town.
MechChemAfrica
talks to
Jaco Smal, the company’s Cape Town-based commercial
sales director.
Above:
AHI Carrier has announced a
R600 000 sponsorship of the Zeitz Museum
of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) at V&A
Waterfront in Cape Town.
to reject the waste heat,” Smal explains. “We
circulate naturally-cool seawater through
heat exchangers so that the system does not
require cooling towers to reject heat into the
atmosphere. Aswell as the better efficiencies
associatedwithwater cooling, this avoidshav-
ing to consume water through evaporation,”
he explains. “The entire Silo District is built
on green principles and energy efficiency.
The directivewas to achieve the best possible
energy efficiency for every tenant,” he adds.
Two Carrier AquaEdge 23XRV chillers
werechosentomeetmostofthedemandfrom
the four connectedSilodevelopments. “These
state-of-the-art variable speed screw chillers
are able to operate off condensed water at
a temperature as low as 13 °C, which makes
them ideal for chilling from the cold-water
temperatures associated with the seawater.
Weusually run theunits at inlet temperatures
of 18 °C to 19 °C, but the chillers have to be
abletocopewhentheseawaterdropstolower
temperatures,” Smal tells
MechChem Africa
.
In addition, a further two Carrier
AquaForce 30XW-V water-cooled variable
speed screwchillers are used for both cooling
and heating. These have very high part-load
efficiencies, allowing for exactmatchingof the
cooling capacity to the load.
“Most importantly, these machines are
all extremely robust and reliable. In general,
highly-efficient machines are often seen as
delicate and unreliable. But these are all
designed for reliability, for which Carrier is
renowned. Since their initial introduction in
theUS in2005, wehavenever had a compres-
sor failure,” Smal reveals.
As for the efficiency of the Silo District
plant room? “Typically, in peak summer, we