13: Iluka Resources Limited

13

Iluka Resources Limited

In March 2021, Brisbane-based juwi Renewable Energy Pty Ltd was awarded the contract to integrate 3.4 MW of solar generation with an existing diesel power station at Iluka’s JacinthAmbrosia Project in South Australia, the world’s largest zircon mine.

juwi agreed to construct the hybrid power solution with KPS, an operating subsidiary of Pacific Energy, which would own and operate the facility for the mine. Pacific Energy is an Australian developer, owner, operator, and supplier of specialist power generation and energy storage facilities including for mining operations and townships at remote locations.

It was the sixth hybrid project for juwi, a subsidiary of German renewable energy giant juwi AG.

In December, Pacific Energy announced that KPS Power Generation, together with juwi, had completed the conversion of the 10 MW diesel power station at the Jacinth-Ambrosia mine to a hybrid power facility.

In a “world first,” the hybrid power station incorporated both solar photovoltaics and electric turbo compounding (ETC) technology, combined with an upgraded control system.

ETC technology allows generators to maintain the same power output using less fuel and producing lower CO2 emissions, making generators work more cleanly and effectively by recovering waste energy from exhaust. “The reduction in diesel consumption and improvement in fuel efficiency is expected to save over 2 million litres of diesel and over 5,500 tonnes of CO2 per year, every year, for at least the next seven years,” said Pacific Energy chief executive Jamie Cullen.

Further, the hybrid project would fulfil almost 21% of the mine’s annual power requirement.