EGOLI GAS

E GOL I GAS

Dynamic and world-class natural gas provision www.egsite.co.za

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positioning as being the sole natural gas reticulation business in Gauteng; providing uninterrupted supply of energy to place it among the most reliable suppliers in the sector.

Moving away from fossil fuels and into renewable energy in the mid2000s, the subsequent success that the business has achieved has derived largely from strategic partnerships and has had a profound influence across numerous sectors; including Writer: Matthew Staff industrial, power generation, domestic households, central water heating, Project Manager: Eddie Clinton commercial restaurants, multigoli Gas has monitored, dwellings and even hospitals.

While its overall footprint is adapted to and led the restricted by its licence within way across the the Greater Johannesburg energy and gas Metropolitan Area, Egoli Gas’ sector over the subsequent reputation in that past decade, becoming a region has become all significant player in South the more prevalent, Africa’s natural gas servicing more than evolution.

7,500 consumers across As one of the most its aforementioned prominent needs customer base in the emanating their way process. into all sectors of “Our commitment to society, the Companies an energy efficient, low behind industry carbon lifestyle ensures progression can easily an uninterrupted flow go unnoticed in the of natural gas ready to background, but Egoli’s use when it’s needed, willingness to move with safely,” the Company’s the times, and to find Managing Director (MD), optimum, contemporary Shepherd Shonhiwa, Shepherd Shonhiwa solutions has led the Managing Director states. “The product is Company to its current

Egoli Gas’ origins can be traced back more than 100 years, but that doesn’t stop the Company in its current guise keeping up with the very latest in energy trends for the benefit of Johannesburg

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A global communications partner & world-class cellular network.

One of South Africa’s leading Cellular and Data Service Providers.

MTN provides this service through an extensive infrastructure network that includes not only communication channels, but also physical buildings that house the network and data equipment that makes the cellular and data service possible. The data and cellular service is power intensive and MTN actively finds new energy efficient solutions to deal with the increase in power consumption due to

the dramatic rise in demand for data and cellular communication.

In itself, using any phone to contact a person instead of driving to meet the person, reduce the universal Carbon Footprint. One of the objectives of MTN is to become the preferred cellular and data provider of all South Africans while reducing energy cost and the actual carbon footprint of South Africa.

Reducing our carbon footprint First ever natural gas tri-generation plant that powers a data centre.

The tri-generation plant at the MTN Innovation Hub, JHB is capable of generating 2MW electricity and reclaiming heat to generate cooling.

Egoli gas is responsible for the supply and distribution of natural gas to site

Fairlands, South Africa www.mtn.co.za

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Gas used to be manufactured in the 1800s from this building, before the conversion to methane-rich natural gases in the 2000s

Egoli Gas silo tanks are still in use today

Benefits [from the rebranding] included changing from supply of hydrogen-rich gas to natural gas, diversifying our customer base, and developing a cadre of skilled management with sharp focus on customer service, business efficiency and safety of operations environmentally-friendly, safe, reliable and energy efficient natural gas.”

Via its 1,200 kilometre pipeline network, Egoli Gas’ saturation within Johannesburg is filtered from an initial acquisition of natural gas from Sasol before strategic storage and controlling of the product occurs prior to its reticulation across the city.

“We at Egoli Gas partner with our clients to find energy saving solutions that meet the requirements of any home or business,” the Company says. “Our natural gas is a convenient,

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easily tapped and cost-effective energy source and is used in a wide range of applications by domestic, hospitality, central water heating and industrial consumers.”

Best practice

With business operations dating back as far as 1892 - when an initial 30 metre gas pipeline was first installed in the city - the Company’s evolution in the decades that have followed have mirrored a general industry evolution, adopting some of the most pressing trends affecting society and global energy usage.

Culminating in 1999 when the Egoli Gas consortium was formed - known as Metro Gas - a further development 10 years’ later saw the Company progressing from being a City Council utility department to a private sector business and underwent a major corporate rebranding.

Later, “during 2004 and 2005, the entire pipeline network, as well

MTN South Africa

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TN South Africa forms part of the MTN Group, a multinational telecommunications operator that boasts more than 229.2 million subscribers across its markets in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

However, it has also invested in the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), a fibre optic cable system that links South Africa and the east coast of Africa to Europe, to further improve network redundancy.

In 2011, MTN rolled out the largest network infrastructure development project in the history of the company.

This has increased its 2nd generation (2G) network coverage to 98.6 percent of the country’s population. In addition, the EDGE and 3rd generation sites of MTN South Africa covers close to 65 percent of the population thereby enabling better call and data connectivity.

In December 2012, MTN South Africa reaffirmed its technology leadership by announcing the commercial launch of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in Gauteng. The pilot was the largest LTE rollout of its scale in Africa and spanned the business hub of Gauteng and Durban’s surrounding areas, with more than 2,200 sites. The operator has expanded its LTE network investment and now includes sites in Cape Town, Bloemfontein, and Port Elizabeth with more regions planned throughout the year.

MTN has successfully migrated various voice bearer interfaces to internet protocol, thereby improving scalability and network simplicity. It has also invested a significant amount of capital in building its own backbone and transmission infrastructure. As a company dedicated on bringing its customers a world-class internet experience, it has invested substantially in submarine cables to improve broadband capacity.

MTN is also the single biggest investor in the West Africa Cable System (WACS), a submarine cable that links South Africa and the west coast of Africa to Europe.

MTN remains a proud sponsor of other properties in the sports, music and lifestyle space. The telecommunications company will continue the relationships with various entities such as the MTN8 tournament, Bloemfontein Celtic Football Club (football), MTN Joyous Celebration and Mafikizolo (music and lifestyle), etc.

www.mtn.co.za

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Egoli Gas soccer team vs the management team

as approximately 35,000 individual gas-fired pieces of equipment, were successfully converted from hydrogenrich coal-based gas to methane-rich, natural gas due to the changed specification of gas by the supplier”, Shonhiwa recalls.

“Benefits [from the rebranding] included changing from supply of hydrogen-rich gas to natural gas, diversifying our customer base, and developing a cadre of skilled management with sharp focus on customer service, business efficiency and safety of operations.”

Projects undertaken since that moment, and especially from 2005 onwards, have revolved around honing and optimising this change in methodology, as well as rationalising the network to discard old non-users and in streamlining a new user base.

Key contracts were subsequently attained in power generation, public hospital boilers and the commercial

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space, earmarking Egoli Gas as a provider built on integrity and, most importantly, safety.

“Natural gas safety is always our highest priority,” the Company emphasises. “At Egoli Gas, strict natural gas safety standards in accordance to national and international standards are adhered to.

“We conduct scheduled leak detection surveys of our complete pipeline network beyond the minimum requirements and strive to implement best practice wherever possible. Regular risk assessments and audits are conducted to ensure constant compliance to standards and legislation.”

World-class reticulation

Egoli Gas re-instatements

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To facilitate such a rapidly changing and developing sector, Egoli Gas’ internal structure - under the guidance of 100 percent owner, Reatile Group - is continuously upgraded and

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improved through a series of capital expenditures; recently comprising the introduction of a Scada system to aid in gas flow monitoring as well as the pressure and integrity of a pipeline network from one central point.

A new pipeline construction has also been implemented in western Johannesburg, while the Company has additionally divided its entire network into 43 supply sectors in order to improve safety standards once more, and to localise pipeline management.

As a 100 percent wholly-owned black Company, the business’ employment profile is equally meticulous in terms of its make-up, reflecting the demographic of the society in which it operates.

“Egoli Gas has a healthy spread of skilled and semi-skilled staff across the board and significant investment is put into skills training and development of its staff,” Shonhiwa emphasises.

The same local commitment is also displayed across the Company’s supply chain, the MD adds: “Egoli Gas is a one-product business from one predominant supplier, while efficiencies are improved by entering into business partnerships, both horizontally and vertically, within the gas value chain where necessary.”

All of these facets fit into Egoli Gas’ ultimate array of goals and values which incorporate fairness, honesty, transparency, care and respect - across both its employees and its everexpanding customer base - standing the business in great stead for the next exciting phase of its sector-driven development.

“Our vision is to be a dynamic, world-class natural gas reticulation Company, expanding rapidly into the Johannesburg area and providing exciting opportunities for all stakeholders,” the Company states.

The MD adds: “In three - five years, Egoli Gas will have doubled the size of this business and will be reticulating gas in other, neighbouring metropolitan areas.”

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CLAASSEN AURET (PTY) LTD is a professional consulting electrical/electronic engineers company geared to serving the needs of a rapidly changing South Africa. Although based in Gauteng and Western Cape we undertake assignments throughout South Africa and Africa.

The Company provides a comprehensive range of general electrical, electronic installations and ground breaking consulting engineering services in the alternative energy field, such as Quad and Tri-Gen as well as bio-fuels generation.

8 Handel Road, Ormonde, Johannesburg Telephone: +27 11 496 3101 Facsimile: +27 11 496 3120 E-mail: drawings@cai.co.za

Egoli Gas’ annual fun walk is a marketing strategy that is designed to help expand the Company’s customer base.

“Staff are divided into colour groups and have to come up with a team name and then ‘WE HIT THE STREETS OF JOZI’.

This marketing strategy is one way of expanding our pipeline,” the Company says.

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1 Annet Road, Johannesburg 2092 South Africa T: +27 11 356 5000 F: +27 86 557 6672 E: info@egoligas.co.za

www.egsite.co.za