MINING
SUNSHINE IS GOLDEN FOR THE
MINING INDUSTRY
This case study details the renewable energy solution modelled for a tailings processing and exploration diamond mining operation. It uses certain assumptions to demonstrate the engineering and economic feasibility of various hybrid energy approaches. BY GLYNIS COETZEE, TOUCHPOINT ENERGY*
CASE STUDY: RENEWABLE ENERGY SOLUTION FOR MINE Technical and commercial review for a solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage hybrid project to supply a South African based mine.
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he mine is an open-cast prospecting mineral and tailings crushing and processing operation, situated in the Northern Cape region, of South Africa, and operates 24 hours per day, seven days a week. The mine electricity supply is grid-connected directly to the Eskom grid and could potentially export energy via the local 10MW substation, approximately 15km away from the Point of Connection (PoC) to the mine incoming supply. The mine has several diesel generators on site that provide electricity supply backup in the event of outages. The load profile is essentially flat at a peak demand of 4.8MW (see Figure 1). There was planned maintenance over the lower consumption period, which is an anomaly to be ignored for the purposes of this model.
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Figure 1. Annual peak demand graph.
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