Energy and Mines Magazine Issue 19

Issue

19

March

2020

A YEAR OF EXTREMES AND CONTRASTS Renewables in mining Australia country report

LEADING THE CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 60-SECOND INTERVIEW: The next stage of power hybrids

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A year of extremes and contrasts MELODIE MICHEL Reporter, Energy and Mines

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etween a general election that caused uncertainty for months, only to maintain the political status quo, and a particularly long and difficult bushfire season that claimed over 30 lives and displaced thousands, 2019 was a rollercoaster year for Australia. For renewables, it was a year of contrasts. Many Australians came to terms with the palpable impact humans have on the climate and demanded action, but the government refused to link the bushfires to climate change, sticking to existing climate policies (or lack thereof). Solar and wind energy generation reached new records and the country met its 2020 target of 23.5% renewables (up from 15% in 2017), yet investment in renewable energy capacity dropped 21% from the previous year (Graph 1), and a lot fewer renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) were signed than in 2017 and 2018 (Graph 2).

In the mining sector, a number of landmark announcements were made. Among others: BHP set the ambitious goal of achieving

Graph 1: Renewable investment in Australia, (Bloomberg NEF) 4

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net-zero operational greenhouse gas emissions towards the end of the century, along with launching a US$400mn climate investment program; Rio Tinto said it was looking at a combination of wind, solar and storage to power the US$1bn expansion of the Tom Price mine; Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) signed a deal to build a 60 MW solar plant at the Chichester Hub iron ore operations; and Roy Hill — a latecomer to the energy transition — started recruiting for an alternative energy advisor.

“The last year has seen a fundamental shift in the approach of the mining sector to the opportunity represented by switching to renewable energy,” says Simon Currie, Principal at consultancy Energy Estate. “This has been driven by activity at both ends of the spectrum: small remote mine sites which have started to move from the traditional fossil fuel options to solar/storage hybrids, and the majors which have announced large-scale programs on both sides of Australia.”

Reaching higher penetration: a learning curve Among the most notable deals signed last year, FMG’s project with Alinta Energy has created much expectation: upon completion, it will allow the company’s Chichester Hub operations to source 100% of its daytime stationary energy requirements from renewables. The first stage of the project consisted in adding 60 km of high-voltage transmission lines to extend Alinta’s network in the Pilbara — powered by a gas station and a 35 MW battery — up to the FMG site. The second phase, which is now under construction, is the installation of a 60 MW solar photovoltaic facility next to the mine. This will allow FMG to displace 100 million litres of diesel annually.

Gary Bryant, General Manager of Asset Strategy at Alinta, tells Energy and Mines: “FMG has an average load of around 40 or 50 MW across two facilities at the Chichester Hub, so when the solar facility is producing at full capacity, there will be a supply of 100% solar and the rest of the solar will build into the rest of our network, offsetting gas generation.”

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This level of renewable penetration is rarely seen in the Australian mining market, but some players are starting to specialize in this type of project. EDL’s Coober Pedy and Agnew projects, for example, are both aiming high at 76% and 50% respectively on average.

“For miners, especially iron ore, the cost of a loss of power quality is unacceptably high. Renewable energy might be cheaper, but getting renewable penetration is complex, and the fluctuations that you see coming out of solar can cause power quality issues. If you want to have meaningful penetration with a larger miner, they first have to see that you can achieve the power quality that they need, and then I think they’ll be in a position to do it,” notes Bryant.

In the case of FMG, the project has a gas-powered grid and a sizeable battery to fall back on, which gave the company the confidence to go ahead with the switch. Without such assets, achieving high levels of renewable penetration can be very challenging, both technically and financially.

Many Australians came to terms with the palpable impact humans have on the climate and demanded action, but the government refused to link the bushfires to climate change, sticking to existing climate policies 6

“If you only have a solar resource, you can only get to 25 or 30% renewable penetration,” says Warner Priest, Head of Emerging Technologies at Siemens.

“If you’re going to try to increase that, you need to put batteries in, and they’re just too expensive at the moment. The modelling won’t work at the current price, and I don’t know that lithium-ion batteries will get down to a level where it will make sense, not with solar.”

According to him, higher penetration is easier to reach with a combination of wind, solar and storage (as in the case of Coober Pedy and Agnew). Solutions like flow batteries or hydrogen storage, used for time shifting and combined with lithium-ion batteries for spinning ENERGY AND MINES MAGAZINE

Graph 2: BRCA deal tracker (https://businessrenewables.org.au/deal-tracker/) 7

reserve and stability, are set to push projects higher up the renewable scale. These are not mature yet, but the Australian government is enthusiastically backing hydrogen development, seeing it as a potential replacement for coal in terms of jobs and export revenue.

Studies and pilot projects are happening all over the country and hydrogen production costs are dropping rapidly, so hydrogen as a storage solution and as an alternative fuel for transportation could be a reality sooner than expected.

Variable mining is another option to reach high renewable penetration, particularly on greenfield sites. “What miners could do is design their plant differently: conduct their operations when there is a renewable resource, say 50% of the time, rather than 24/7. It’s a combination of changing the way they mine, increasing the amount 8

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Coober Pedy/Agnew

of solar and energy storage, and that combination could potentially serve their energy needs 70% to 100%,� adds Priest. But this type of mining will require a tremendous mentality shift in the sector, as most miners remain reluctant to give up their traditional 24/7 operations model.

Still, there are more high-penetration hybrids now than ever before, and each new project provides valuable insights for future developments. Because their project benefited from a loan by the Australian Renewable Agency (ARENA), Alinta and FMG are required to share their learnings with the rest of the market, which should help to raise the industry’s confidence in the quality of renewable energy for mining projects.

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EDL is on track to deliver phase 2 of the Agnew project by May 2020, completing the gas, solar, wind and storage combination that will power the mine with 50% renewables, and paving the way for more high-penetration projects. Among those, the market will be watching out for announcements about Strandline’s agreement with the EDLWoodside joint venture for the Coburn mine: details are expected to be finalized in the coming months, including the type and amount of renewables to be used alongside trucked LNG in the hybrid power plant.

Commercial finance still difficult to access Finance has long been seen as one of the hurdles to overcome in order to get a renewable project off the ground, particularly in the mining 10

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Chichester Hub

sector. Though solar and wind energy is now cheaper than power generated from diesel or gas in Australia, the capital investment required for a hybrid power plant can be as much as 10 to 15 times higher than for a diesel or gas power plant — a tough sell in many boardrooms.

While tier 1 miners like BHP or Rio Tinto can afford to spend their own capital on projects that are largely motivated by corporate social responsibility (CSR) targets, for most others driven by cost, support from government agencies has been a key enabler to get projects off the ground. Fortescue is the fourth-largest mining company in Australia by market capitalization (source: ASX), yet its project with Alinta still sought government support, in the form of an ARENA loan. “I think the commercial banks are still a little bit unsure about this, though you can see them investing in renewable projects where 11

they have a high degree of understanding of the market and of the technology,” says Bryant at Alinta.

Just as miners’ confidence in renewable power will increase as more projects come to fruition, commercial banks’ appetite in these deals is also bound to grow. “The trend is towards these types of projects’ economics stacking up more and more convincingly. It’s a great backdrop for renewable power integration in the mining sector,” says Lachlan Shaw, Commodity Research Head at National Australia Bank (NAB).

Many large banks have set sustainable finance targets (NAB, for example, has pledged to lend A$70bn to the renewable sector by 2025), and most are now opting to stay away from thermal coal projects.

So it is reasonable to believe that as recent government-backed developments demonstrate their financial viability, bank lending will become more accessible for mining hybrids.

As for non-bank investment, it’s already there — as long as the mine has the balance sheet to support it. “There’s plenty of money

FMG/Alinta Chichester Hub

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going around that investors want to throw into projects like these,” says Priest at Siemens. “But they need to be sure that the mine will operate for 15 years. The problem with small miners is that if they can’t guarantee that they’re going to be mining that resource over that time, the investors won’t invest. Tier 2 miners like Oz Minerals looking at operations in the billion-dollar range, with enough of a balance sheet for investors to feel comfortable that they will back their operations, can do it. But for the smaller ones, it gets a little tricky,” he adds.

For small players, unity is strength: by linking a number of small operations to one power station, they can reassure developers and investors that the energy will be purchased for long enough to pay off the initial investment. The CopperString project in Queensland is a good example: the A$1.5bn proposal to build a 1,100 km high-voltage line to connect industrial users in Mount Isa to Townsville’s National Electricity Market (NEM) grid is championed by local miners Glencore, Our electricity Incitec Pivot, New Century, MMG and retailers are Chinova Resources.

“The miners in this province have never been connected to the electricity grid and have faced very high power prices, despite being connected to the East Coast and now the NT gas systems. CopperString will allow them to connect to the NEM and benefit from the build out of new low-cost renewable energy projects along the route such as Big Kennedy [a proposed 600 MW solar PV and 600 MW wind facility, phase 1 of which is currently under development with support from ARENA]” explains Currie.

CopperString has received a funding commitment from fund manager DIF Capital Partners, who will provide about

quite powerful in Australia and have really come ahead and come up with offerings for corporates, where they sit between the developer and the corporate, but the corporate knows exactly which solar or wind farm that deal is with

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A$5mn in development costs and up to A$400mn in equity funding, but the project’s viability is hinging on a sizeable commitment from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF), which is yet to be approved. This shows that even with several offtakers (including a mining giant such as Glencore) and private investment, many projects still need government support to reach financial close.

PPA potential PPAs can be a great tool to help finance renewable projects, by allowing developers to secure financing based on the terms of the contract. But surprisingly, no such contract was signed in the mining sector last year. Jackie McKeon, Program Director at the Business Renewables Centre Australia (BRCA) explains that the uncertainty surrounding the general election meant that many players were reluctant to sign contracts, but she expects a number of deals to be announced this year. For one, Strandline is set to announce its PPA

Graph 3: VCI State of Play: Strategy report, ‘Potential disrupters in the mining industry’ 14

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with Woodside and EDL in the coming months. Newcrest Mining also recently put out a tender to source renewable power at its Cadia site in New South Wales, so another mining-renewable PPA could be announced this year.

“The whole industry is playing catch-up, it’s not specific to mining.

There have only been about 60 renewable PPAs signed in Australia to date — some in heavy industry but not much in the resources sector.

But they certainly are interested: we’ve had a number of mining companies join as members, including BHP, Newcrest Mining, Bowdens Silver, Anglo American, Centennial and Element25,” McKeon points out. She adds that joining the BRCA is a clear indication that these companies are considering PPAs as a way to reach their CSR, carbon reduction or energy targets, since the organization focuses on providing training and guides on how to build this type of contract.

Renewable PPAs in Australia are often done with an electricity retailer as intermediary, as opposed to North America, where there are more direct PPAs between a buyer and a renewable developer. “Our electricity retailers are quite powerful in Australia and have really come ahead and come up with offerings for corporates, where they sit between the developer and the corporate, but the corporate knows exactly which solar or wind farm that deal is with. When we started out there was only one PPA offering by retailers and now there are nine or ten of those,” McKeon says. As a reflection of this market trend, the BRCA is going to create a guide retail PPAs in Australia.

Despite the government’s reluctance to set policies to combat climate change — even in the face of such real consequences as the bushfire crisis — the industry is making progress and setting precedents for the optimal configuration of renewables on mine sites. (Graph 3) The recent survey The State of Play: Strategy, conducted by consultants VCI, the University of WA and Curtin University, revealed that 78% of Australian mining executives believe that renewable energy will eventually become “the most widely used energy source in the industry” — suggesting that while the integration of renewables in the Australian mining sector might be frustratingly slow at times, it is all but inevitable.

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Miners Begin Cleaning Up Their Act With Renewables SHARON MUSTRI BloombergNEF (The following article was first published on BloombergNEF on March 10 and is republished here with their permission)

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he mining industry faces an interesting paradox.

It is the lynchpin of the transition to a low-carbon economy, providing the materials that go into new grids and electric vehicles, yet miners’ extraction processes gorge on large amounts of power. Miners account for 6% of the world’s energy demand, and meet most of it with fossil fuels.

Miners, which account for 22% of global industrial emissions, are facing more pressure to decarbonize than ever before – from investors, customers in the technology and auto industries, and even consumers further downstream. Companies recognize the risks to their operations from climate change, and continue to reaffirm their commitment to sustainability. Some 21 mining companies, including Glencore, Rio Tinto, BHP, Vale and Anglo American, are members of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, or TCFD. This means their financial reporting discloses risks and opportunities from climate change. The next step for many of these

Figure 1: The scale and challenge of top mining companies’ operational emissions. Source: BloombergNEF. Note Scope 1 emissions result from a mine’s direct consumption of energy on-site. Scope 2 emissions result from a mine’s procurement of off-site electricity 20

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companies is implementing changes to drive direct decarbonization – a daunting task.

But things are starting to change, and fast Mining companies have seen that part of the solution lies in tapping into renewables. Clean energy procurement by miners has accelerated to unprecedented levels in the last two years, as the drop in the cost of wind and solar power has made this an increasingly attractive pathway to decarbonize operations. Miners have contracted for 5.9GW of clean energy in the last decade – three quarters of which was signed up in the past two years.

Big conglomerates have been driving this activity, such as BHP, which last year said renewables will power 100% of its largest copper operations in Chile by 2025. Rio Tinto has similar ambitions, announcing a plan last month to invest $1.5 billion to reach net-zero scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050.

Figure 2: Mining industry renewable energy procurement, by mechanism. Source: BloombergNEF 21

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A long way to go Despite this momentum, solar and wind are still just a small fraction of the energy used by the industry today. Miners have been much slower in adopting renewables than other corporates. For instance, Google alone has procured more clean energy than the entire mining sector in the last decade.

Investors will play a big role in accelerating activity. The sustainable debt market is now worth more than $1 trillion, with major asset managers and institutional investors like Blackrock committing to divest from companies that are not aligned with a low-carbon transition. Increasingly, mining companies have to engage in decarbonization in order to access capital.

What does the path for 100% clean energy in the mining sector look like?

Solar and wind are the cheapest forms of new generation capacity in two-thirds of the world. This means miners can negotiate off-site, long-term power purchase agreements, or PPAs, at lower prices than thermal generation. It also allows them to sidestep the volatility of energy markets.

PPAs are the preferred clean energy procurement mechanism for miners. Many deals are structured as so-called sleeved contracts, in which a utility or energy retailer pulls from a portfolio of clean-energy projects to deliver round-the-clock electricity to mines. This model has proven effective in Chile, the leading country for renewable energy in mines. It allows companies like BHP or Anglo American to meet 100% renewable energy targets without forfeiting reliability.

Alternatively, miners can also install renewables on site at their operations. Mines could save up to 25% of their total electricity costs by leveraging solar, wind, or batteries on site, according to BNEF models. On-site renewables will appeal to mines where grid or fuel access is difficult, expensive, or unreliable – a common theme in markets like South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia.

The original article was published here 23

focus

Leading the clean energy transition in Western Australia MELODIE MICHEL Reporter, Energy and Mines

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Gold Fields Agnew Mine - Artists Impression.

Courtesy Gold Fields 25

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nergy producer EDL owns and operates a global portfolio of power stations in Australia, North America and Europe, and since 2015, the company has made strides in sustainable distributed energy through its hybrid renewable developments. In Australia, EDL is involved with a number of mining companies and remote communities, assisting their carbon reduction efforts through the hybridization of energy sources. Most notably, the company owns and operates the Coober Pedy Hybrid Renewable Power Station, which provides electricity to the remote mining town of Coober Pedy in South Australia; and the Agnew Hybrid Renewable Project in Western Australia (WA) for Gold Fields’ Agnew gold mine.

“The Agnew project is progressing well,” says EDL’s General Manager, Remote Energy, Geoff Hobley. “Last year we delivered stage 1: a gas and diesel power station and a solar farm, and we’re on track to deliver stage 2 by the middle of this year, which includes the batteries, five wind turbines and a microgrid control system.” EDL will complete installation of the five wind turbines, each with a diameter of 140 metres, by the end of February. When completed, this project will make this Gold Fields mine the first in Australia to be powered by wind-generated energy.

This past October, a joint venture formed by Woodside and EDL was chosen by Strandline Resources to provide a sustainable energy solution for its Coburn Mineral Sands project in WA. The power project will be developed under a build, own, operate model and will incorporate a 27MW trucked LNG and renewable energy solution over a 15-year term. The arrangement is contingent on the conclusion of a power purchase agreement, which is expected to be finalised in the coming months, subject to finance approval.

In his almost eight years at EDL, Hobley has seen miners’ interest in decarbonisation grow. This has accelerated most rapidly in recent months: “This shift is not just due to the reducing cost of renewable technologies but the growing desire of mining companies and regional energy retailers to decarbonize and to manage their energy costs.”

According to him, the steps taken by BHP (a US$400mn climate

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Woodside EDL LNG Trucks

investment program), Rio Tinto (a deal with China’s largest steel producer to reduce carbon emissions from the steelmaking industry) and Gold Fields’ efforts to champion hybrid renewable energy, amongst others, demonstrate the mining sector’s commitment to reducing their carbon footprint. “At an industry level, our conversations with mining and other remote customers are increasingly about decarbonizing their energy sources,” he says.

On top of this ongoing trend, the bushfire crisis that plagued most of Eastern Australia at the end of 2019 firmly placed climate change at the center of energy conversations. “The bushfire crisis has shone a media spotlight on climate change, and Australia’s strategic transition to renewable energy continues to be a regular feature in our discussions with customers and potential customers. Most of our remote customers are increasingly factoring in the need to improve their sustainability performance and looking to make corporate social responsibility commitments.” Hobley says.

Renewable penetration challenges But while interest is there, and the technology is affordable, it is still rare to see hybrids with 50% or more renewable penetration.

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According to Hobley, this is due to the intermittency of renewable sources of energy. “While renewable energy has many sustainability benefits, the key drawback is that solar and wind resources can be highly variable. As the percentage of a hybrid system’s renewable capacity increases, the impact of the renewable resources’ intermittency increases. This requires additional hardware and control systems to make sure the reliability of supply and power quality are maintained,” he says.

High penetration is challenging, but not unachievable: EDL’s Coober Pedy Hybrid Renewable Power Station provides the remote mining community with electricity that is generated on average at 75% renewable energy. To date, the longest continuous period the power station has operated on 100% renewables was 97 hours in December last year. And when completed, the Agnew Renewable Hybrid Project will provide the mine with more than 50% renewable energy over the long term.

“We aim to minimize production costs by utilizing the plentiful solar or wind-generated energy at our sites to extract hydrogen from water” GEOFF HOBLEY EDL’s General Manager, Remote Energy 28

“Hybrid technologies help bridge the gap between transitional fuel sources and renewable energy,” explains Hobley. “EDL has demonstrated that well-designed hybrid stations can effectively manage the reliability risk and facilitate much higher penetration of renewable energy sources. The reducing cost of batteries will also assist us to move to larger-scale high-penetration projects: in addition to storing and enabling the use of renewables for a longer period, batteries provide spinning reserve and assist with managing load steps to ensure smooth, reliable supply while reducing the task of thermal engines.”

The hydrogen promise Besides its work delivering hybrid power stations to remote communities and mines —EDL is in ongoing discussions with a number of mining operators and hopes to make further announcements later this year — the company was recently awarded a grant from the WA government’s Renewable Hydrogen Fund for a study on the production of hydrogen from renewable energy sources.

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“We’re really excited about this study: we hope to be the first energy producer to use renewable hydrogen to power a remote community or mining operation in Western Australia,” says Hobley.

Under the study, which is expected to be completed in late 2020, EDL will investigate how the integration of hydrogen production with renewables can help achieve 100% renewable penetration at its thermal power stations that supply islanded grids in remote WA. The results will determine the feasibility of progressing with a demonstration hydrogen production project in 2021.

“Hydrogen is currently an expensive fuel to produce, store and transport. EDL intends to eliminate the transport challenge by producing hydrogen onsite in our existing power stations in remote WA. We aim to minimize production costs by utilizing the plentiful solar or wind-generated energy at our sites to extract hydrogen from water,” explains Hobley. “This is where EDL will leverage our expertise in hybrid renewable microgrids to identify the best technology configuration to produce reliable, low-cost, low-emissions electricity to run the energy-intensive extraction process.”

While the bushfire crisis is not expected to change government policies around climate change specifically, the Australian Prime Minister is set to launch consultations in March on a new technology roadmap in areas such as hydrogen, solar and batteries, transmissions and network, energy storage and carbon capture.

Hydrogen in particular is the focus of much interest and investment in the country, as it shows promise not only to store renewable energy for power, but also as a zero-emissions transport fuel.

EDL is closely following government announcements about the roadmap, and contributing to the development of the hydrogen sector with the study, which will take place at a range of sites in WA. Still, Hobley reminds that while the production of cheap renewable hydrogen is one part of the equation, the success of these developments will also largely depend on the availability of equipment to use it. “These opportunities will depend on the ongoing progression to larger and lower-cost technology options,” he adds.

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interview

60-second interview: KRISHNAN RAJAGOPALAN

The next stage for power hybrids

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he economics of renewable energy for mines have never been more attractive, yet higher penetration still appears difficult to reach. Sterling and Wilson, a leading renewable solution provider, is working with miners in Australia and beyond to support the higher integration of renewable power in hybrids.

In this 60-second interview, Krishnan Rajagopalan, Head – Business Development, Hybrid & Energy Storage, Sterling and Wilson, shares his insights about why it is taking so long to reach critical mass for renewables in the mining sector, and which upcoming trends are likely to tip the balance.

Energy and Mines: Now that small-scale solar is well proven for miners, how can projects get to the next stage with high-penetration solar and battery storage?

Krishnan Rajagopalan: The current financials and the economics for miners who are operating on off-grid (diesel, HFO or gas-based) power generation systems, are proven to be viable. However, the effectiveness of battery storage for mining applications with respect to load side demand management when surges happen is yet to be demonstrated for larger data points. But the technology has matured to address this. We believe that as more installations happen in the off-grid space with solar and storage penetration, slowly the comfort for mining companies will increase to adopt large-scale solar and storage solutions. The current level of penetration with solar + storage with 33

existing distributed generation (DG) is around 35 to 40% renewables, but if we are able to combine wind as well (with micro wind turbines), the renewable penetration can increase, displacing more diesel and CO2 emissions. Also, today most of these projects are funded by development finance institutions (DFIs) and a few IPPs. As commercial bank lending increases, the deployment of such projects will also increase.

The hybrid systems have delivered more than 40% of renewable energy (clean green solar power) plus storage facility into their internal captive grid. This has reduced their power cost outflow by 30 to 40% yearly.

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E&M: How have the economics of battery storage improved — are the economics there for mining hybrids?

KR: Yes, battery pricing has substantially come down in the global market with the large-scale deployments happening in the electric vehicle market, as well as grid-scale batteries. This is expected to come down further. The current cost level of batteries, around US$200 to US$250/KwH (battery alone) needs to further go down to US$100 to US$150/KwH. The economics for the hybrid energy sources compared to an existing off-grid power plant operating on diesel are well established. The arbitrage is around US$10c/KwH, which is very compelling for customers to adopt hybrids.

ENERGY AND MINES MAGAZINE

Sterling and Wilson Hybrid Plant in Nigeria

E&M: Can you share some recent example of hybrid power plants including energy storage solutions that have applicability for miners?

KR: Some of the mines which have adapted these solutions are gold mines in Burkino Faso, mines in Mali, and mines in Western Australia. Agnew Mines has also installed a hybrid power project in their mine in Australia. Some of the large miners like RioTinto, Fortescue, and BHP have announced their targets to reduce carbon emissions by way of shifting to hybrid power sources. All these mining companies were operating on either diesel or gas.

The hybrid systems have delivered more than 40% of renewable energy (clean green solar power) plus storage facility into their internal captive grid. This has reduced their power cost outflow by 30 to 40% yearly. This also provides a sustainability measure to all these miners who are constantly trying to reduce carbon emissions. More greenfield and operating mines have started looking at hybridization of solar, wind + storage technologies with their existing generation sources.

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Energy and Mines is at the forefront of the mining sector’s move towards low-carbon production and operations. Since 2010 our event series in Canada, South Africa, Chile, the UK, and Australia has created and supported a community of miners and energy professionals that are driving the shift to affordable, reliable, sustainable and low-carbon mining.

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