Recent Projects
2017–2018
Client: Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.
Project: Firefighting Automation Upgrade
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: East London
Year: 2017-2019
Decription: The mechanical, electrical, control and instrumentation works associated with the automation of the existing firefighting system. This included the installation of new actuated valves, a Safety Instrumented Control System, a fully redundant network topology, HMI installation in multiple control rooms, alarm management, and secure VPN for remote management and maintenance.
Key Activities: Design, Hazardous Area Classification, Safety Instrumented System, PLC Programming, HMI Development & Programming, Drawings, Bid Documents, Calling for Bids, Adjudication, Procurement, Project Management, Supervision, Financial Control, Commissioning and Handover
Client: Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.
Project: AOPS Project
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: Klerksdorp
Year: 2017 - 2018
Decription:The mechanical, electrical, control and instrumentation works associated with the safe shut down of the pipeline fed terminal in the event of a tank overfill via Siemens S7-1500 safety PLC’s Scope included Hazardous Area Classification, Safety Instrumented System, PLC Programming, HMI development & programming.
Key Activities: Conceptual Design, Detailed Design, Construction Drawings, Bid Documents, Calling for Bids, Adjudication, Procurement, Project management, Supervision, Financial Control, Commissioning and Handover

Client: Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd
Project: Electrical Upgrade Gaborone Depot
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: Gaborone, Botswana
Year: 2017 - 2018
Decription:This project involved a full electrical upgrade at Astron's Gaborone depot, including the supply and installation of new cabling, cable racking, lighting, control stations, and isolators. The scope also included an electrical compliance audit, repair/replacement of non-compliant systems, and the removal of redundant equipment to meet current safety and operational standards.
Key Activities: Electrical Design and Compliance Audit, Cable Racking and Terminations, Installation of New Lighting and Control Stations, Repair and Replacement of Non-Compliant Systems, Removal of Redundant Equipment, Tender Adjudication, Procurement, and Supervision, Testing, Commissioning, and Handover

Client: Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd
Project: Electrical Upgrade Dumela Depot
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: Francistown, Botswana
Year: 2017
Decription:This project involved a full electrical installation upgrade at Astron's Dumela depot in Francistown, including an electrical compliance audit and the repair of non-compliant works. The scope included the supply and installation of new cabling, cable racking and terminations, new lighting, control stations and isolators, as well as the repair or replacement of non-compliant items and the removal of redundant equipment..
Key Activities: Electrical Compliance Audit, Electrical Upgrade, Cabling and Cable Racking, Lighting Installation, Control Stations and Isolators, Repair and Replacement of Non-Compliant Systems, Removal of Redundant Equipment.

Client:Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd
Project:Tank HHLA & Lighting Project
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: Cape Town
Year: 2017
Decription:This project was initiated after an illumination survey at Astron's JBS terminal identified that lighting levels on tank stairways and walkways were below the required standards. In addition, the High-High Level Alarm (HHLA) control system was not aligned with Chevron’s safety requirements and depended on a soft input into the SCADA system, which meant an alarm would not be raised if the SCADA computer was offline. The scope of work included the supply and installation of a new high and high-high level alarm control panel, the installation of new lighting for tank stairways, and the installation of new power and instrument cabling from the control panel to the instruments on the tank tops.
Key Activities: Conceptual Design, Electrical Design Report, Lighting Upgrade, HHLA and HLA Control System Installation, Instrument Cabling, Safety Integrity Upgrades.
2019–2021
Client: Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.
Project: Tank Farm Lighting Upgrade
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: Klerksdorp
Year: 2018-2019
Decription:The electrical works associated with upgrading the lighting in the tank farm and surrounding areas, in accordance with SANS 10389-1: Exterior Lighting, Part1 - Artificial lighting for exterior areas for work and safety. The project successfully increased the lighting levels at all key areas in order to meet with the necessary requirements. The design was first modelled with 3D simulation lighting software before being implemented in phases. It incorporated LED lighting as far as practically possible and maximized the reflectance from the tanks to spread illumination evenly.
Key Activities: Conceptual Design, Detailed Design, Construction Drawings, Bid Documents, Calling for Bids, Adjudication, Procurement, Project Management, Supervision, Financial Control, Commissioning and Handover





Client: Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.
Project: Above-Ground Horizontal Tank Installation
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: Klerksdorp
Year: 2018-2019
Decription:The electrical, control and instrumentation works associated with the installation of 4x200cu.m above-ground horizontal tanks (Diesel & Paraffin), including tank inventory management, high accuracy intrinsically safe radar gauging, earthing, actuated shut-down valves, lighting, and overfill protection.
Key Activities: Conceptual Design, Detailed Design, Construction Drawings, Bid Documents, Calling for Bids, Adjudication, Procurement, Project Management, Supervision, Financial Control, Commissioning and Handover





Client: Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.
Project:Automated Overfill Protection System (AOPS) Project
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: Alrode
Year: 2019
Decription:This project focused on the installation of pneumatically actuated emergency shut-down valves and the associated control and alarming systems at Chevron’s Alrode Terminal. The scope included the supply and installation of a new compressed air system, a new annunciator alarm panel in the office with connection to the ESD control circuit, and the tracing, identification, disconnection, and re-termination of existing field alarm signals into a new AOPS control panel. A new emergency shut-down (ESD) control panel was also supplied and installed within the existing MCC.
Key Activities: Emergency Shut-Down Valves, Compressed Air System Installation, Control and Alarming Systems, Annunciator Alarm Panel, AOPS Control Panel, ESD Control Panel Integration.




Client: Solar Energy Architects
Project: Vleiland Floating Solar Plant
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: Vredendal
Year: 2020
Decription:The electrical works associated with a new 233kWp, grid-tied PV solar power plant. This included the installation of 648x PV panels on an imported floating solar structure, 4x 50kW grid-tied inverters in a new dedicated electrical room, interfacing with the main Eskom incomer, networking and a secure VPN for remote management and maintenance.
Key Activities: Design, Drawings, Bid Documents, Adjudication, Financial Control, Construction Management, Commissioning and Handover
Client: Floating Solar
Project: Kraaifontein Solar
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Design Team: Albert de Klerk, Tashriq Pandy
Location: Kraaifontein
Year: 2021
Decription: The City of Cape Town, with study partners Floating Solar, the Water Research Commission and the University of Cape Town launched a floating solar photovoltaic (PV) pilot, which was established at the City’s Kraaifontein Wastewater Treatment Works. Cyntech were appointed by Floating Solar to design the system. The project includes a floating solar PV array as well as a ground-mounted PV system to determine evaporation savings and relative energy generation performance of floating solar PV technology. This is an innovative research study where data will be collected over a 12-month period to potentially inform the design of larger utility scale floating solar PV projects.
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-10-14-massive-floater-in-sewage-farm-to-provide-an-electricity-first-for-sa/
Key Activities: Design, Drawings, Bid Documents, Adjudication, Financial Control, Construction Management, Commissioning and Handover
Client: Solar Energy Architects
Project: Clanwilliam Spar
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Design Team: Albert de Klerk, Tashriq Pandy
Location: Clanwilliam
Year: 2020
Decription: The electrical works associated with a new 400kWp, grid-tied PV solar power plant. This included the installation of 1080x PV panels on the roof of the Spar shopping centre in Clanwilliam, 4x 82.8kVA grid-tied inverters generating a total of 330kVA, interfacing with the main incomer, networking and a secure VPN for remote management and maintenance.
Key Activities: Design, Drawings, Bid Documents, Adjudication, Financial Control, Construction Management, Commissioning and Handover
Client: Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.
Project: Additive Injection
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: Pretoria, Klerksdorp & East London
Year: 2020
Decription: The electrical and mechanical works associated with a new pneumatically operated additive injection system.
This included the installation of a new pneumatic air line supplied from the on-site compressor, a pre-fabricated pump skid consisting of a pneumatic pump and pressurisation vessel, new additive injection blocks in the road loading gantry and associated pipework.
Key Activities: Mechanical Engineering, Design, Drawings, Bid Documents, Adjudication, Financial Control, Construction Management, Commissioning and Handover
Client: Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.
Project: MV Upgrade
Project Engineer: Ashley Verhulp
Location: Durban IVT
Year: 2019-2020
Decription: The electrical and civil works associated with decommissioning the existing 6.6kV plant reticulation infrastructure and upgrading it to 11kV.
The project included comprehensive load studies, new 11/0.42kV and 11/0.52kV transformer designs , Ring Main Unit (RMU) designs, updated 11kV reticulation layout throughout the plant, safe decommissioning and removal of the old 6.6kV system, and the successful commissioning of new 11kV system, including correct MV protection coordination.
New 525V and 420V MCCs were also constructed to ensure that main LV distribution boards were in line with the latest technological trends.
Lastly, further financial savings were realised by the client as we were able to reduce the NMD significantly. A decision which was made possible by studying the power quality data log, initially conducted at the beginning of the project. A further saving was realised as the Voltage Surcharge costs were now reduced from 12.75% to 10.5%.
Key Activities: Conceptual Design, Detailed Design, Construction Drawings, Bid Documents, Calling for Bids, Adjudication, Procurement, Project management, Supervision, Financial Control, Commissioning and Handover
2022–2025







Client: Aquila Private Game Reserve
Project: 504 kWp Hybrid Solar PV & 1 MWh Battery Storage System
Project Engineer: Albert de Klerk
Project Manager: Carbon Zero
Location: Touws River, Western Cape
Year: 2025
Description: This project involved the design, engineering support, commissioning oversight, and certification of a 504 kWp (DC) hybrid solar photovoltaic (PV) plant with a 1 MWh / 440 kVA battery energy storage system (BESS). The installation includes JA Solar rooftop panels and bifacial ground-mounted panels, integrated with 4 × 110 kVA Sungrow PV inverters, 4 × Sungrow PowerStack 125 kVA / 250 kWh battery units, and 2 × Sungrow ATS cabinets. The scope of work encompassed the design and commissioning of a new AC distribution board with motorised MCCBs, integration with a 300 kVA standby generator, and validation of a custom energy and forecasting dashboard developed by Cyntech. Additional responsibilities involved the design and implementation of LTE signal boosters (directional and omnidirectional antennas) and establishing a secure VPN for remote site access and management.
Key Activities: Design, Drawings, Commissioning Oversight, Certification, Construction Management Support, Remote Connectivity

