A ground-breaking, $23. four million project to cut out day diesel consumption at Rio Tinteggiato bauxite mine at Weipa may possibly well unlock billions of dollars of really investments in the mining industry ~ which is weighed down by leaping energy costs.
Mining giant Rio de janeiro Tinto is to host a $23. 4 million solar PV plus recollection facility at its Weipa bauxite my practice, that is the first of its type then scale in the world and could unleash millions dollars of similar investment.
Rio de janeiro Tinto Alcan – with the help of all of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency – would install a 1 . 7MW solar PV number at its Weipa bauxite mine further along this year, and then add a further 5MW of solar PV and battery recollection.
The Weipa mine (pictured) can be found at on the Cape York Peninsula preference very northern tip of southern Australia, and relies on expensive diesel powered that has to be shipped in.
One of the primary phase of the solar project ~ to be built with First Solar thin-film modules and constructed by Hawaiian solar firm Ingenero – has always been expected to reduce daytime diesel requirement from the mine's 26MW diesel turbine by up to 20 per cent.
Nevertheless , the addition of more solar and recollection to balance out intermittency could stop daytime diesel consumption altogether found on certain times.
The Weipa project was your first of around 70 submissions ~ worth several billion dollars within investment – from mining staff in Australia for funding for brilliant ground breaking projects under ARENA's $400 million remote energy program.
In the end of the commodities boom has made miners more focused on energy costs. Rio de janeiro Tinto recently announced the close up of the Groote Eylandt mine appearing in Northern Territory because it was being broken by fuel costs. Solar with you with other technologies are now emerging as transitable alternatives, even with the diesel bar exemption enjoyed by the mining make trades.
ARENA, which has been marked for close up by Tony Abbott's ultra practical government in Australia, is committing $9,99. 3 million over the two portions of the project.
ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknect said it is critical as part of their "show and tell" exercise that will assist you make miners understand the technology, take its reliability, and identify which is where further cost cuts are made. It lead to reduced costs in future assignments, and ultimately remove the need for whichever government support.
"We need a a couple of these projects to show how cost reducing they can be, " Frischknecht told RenewEconomy.
"Transporting fuel long distances over generators is dangerous and will be variable weather conditions – it is a really expensive, unpredictable arrangement that doesn't make high-quality economic sense.
"However, miners need be confident about the integration of brilliant technology, EPC contractors need to learn by the difficulties of delivering modules a wonderful remote locations, and (sub contractors) don't know yet what they might not know.
"I think this is a perfect tip of the iceberg … energy resource security is a big deal for miners. ARENA sees mining as a good sized potential off-grid user of alternative energy in Australia and congratulates Rio Tinteggiato Alcan for paving the way over other mining operations to adopt alternative energy and offset diesel use as a result of this landmark demonstration project. "
Whether ARENA gets to spend more on top of its remote mining energy computer program may depend on support in the United states senate, which could reject the repeal dan being prepared by the Abbott government (which had made a pre-election swear by to retain ARENA).
Frischknect said it has been unclear how many such projects should be funded in such a way to discharge further unsubsidized investment from the mining or prospecting community. "There has been a lot of community about that, it could be that we need to sign on of your majors to enable the key internal decision-making. "
Jack Curtis, the head within business development for First Casa in Australia, says there has been a showing point in the mining community over the previous six months, where the big operators be aware that solar can provide an economic process to soaring diesel and gas lowest prices.
"We think that this will show that do solar can go mainstream, " Curtis said. He expected other huge companies to follow, not just in Australia, , in other solar rich mining areas of. "Rio Tinto wouldn't be doing more of these if it was a one-off effort, " he said.
First Solar quests were used to construct Australia's first off utility-scale solar farm in Australia, all of the 10MW Greenough River project in the proximity of Geraldton, and the largest solar facilities under construction, the combined 153MW facilities at Broken Hill then Nyngan in NSW.
Miners appearing in Chile have begun to install photovoltaic projects, and even Australia's Fortescue Precious metals recently tendered for a 3MW photovoltaic project to help power its X-mas Creek mining camp at its huge Cloudbreak iron ore mine on the inside Pilbara. BHP Billion considered choice renewable technology options, including cuna and geothermal, in planning for some now deferred expansion of the Olympic Dam mine in South Immigovau.
Other solar technologies, such as solar heating with storage being developed by Casa Reserve and Australia's Vast Casa, also see off-grid mining tools.
Gareth Manderson, the general manager within operations at Rio Tinto Alcan's Weipa mine, said the hybd diesel/PV solution will introduce for that site "a reliable source of electricity, consisting of low maintenance requirements. "
One of the primary phase of the project is timetabled to be completed later this year, consisting of phase two set for 2017. Rio Tinto Alcan will discover the electricity under a 15-year power select agreement.
A total of 18, 1000 modules will be mounted on steel then aluminium structures in the first lady, generating 2, 620MWh of electric power each year for use in the mine great number of processing plant. The specifications belonging to the storage component have yet turn out to be worked out.
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