Building the infrastructure needed for the world’s transition to clean energy in order to hit net zero goals will require clean energy technology at mining operations across the world.
This is because the manufacture of wind turbines, photovoltaics and battery energy storage requires vast amounts of lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper along with traditionally mined materials such as aluminium.
Forecasts show global mining growth will mean operational power use will increase by over a third in the next decade.
IEA report says “Mining capacity for critical minerals needs to expand swiftly to get on track with net zero goals. While current anticipated investments will lead to substantial gains, capacity would still fall well short of global NZE Scenario needs in 2030. The largest gap is for lithium, with anticipated expansions covering just two-thirds of 2030 requirements. Lead times for new mines are long and uncertain, meaning that investment of around USD 360-450 billion would be needed mostly over the next three years to bridge this gap”.
As demand for raw materials to deliver clean energy products grows so mining operations are adopting cleaner on site power generation technologies such as the Power of 10 hydrogen ready medium speed gas engines.
Langley Holdings Power Solutions Division has a long history of providing the power to run mining operations in across the world through Bergen Engines, Marelli Motori and Piller Power Systems.
The Power of 10 features Bergen Gensets, which include Marelli Motori 10MW alternators and Piller Integrated Power Conditioning and Switching Technology (IPCS).
IPCS is a frequency stabilization and voltage support module integrated with the power generation module (or renewable sources).
Although mining raw materials is energy intensive and difficult to decarbonise the mining industry is at the frontier of energy change.
With the support of Langley Holdings the sector is moving to cleaner fuels to power mining operations.
Hybrid microgrids that use renewable energy and local resources have bolstered carbon neutral progression in South Africa’s Mogalakwena mine.
In September 2020, Bergen Engines and its agent, Penske Australia, entered into an agreement with Contract Power to supply 15 medium-speed gas gensets for the Iron Bridge Magnetite Project (IBMP).
These gensets feature Bergen’s 20-cylinder B36:45 gas engine, introduced globally in late 2018. The B36:45 set a new standard for low fuel consumption, reliability and emissions. The Pilbara Generation Project, has gas gensets which are integrated with a 150MW solar photovoltaic farm and battery storage system.
Under the Power Solutions Division, Bergen, Marelli Motori and Piller Power systems are bring cleaner power to the mining sector on a global scale.
See us at The Future of Mining event in Perth, Australia 17th-18 June 2024.
About Piller
Piller power conditioning and backup technology can be found in major mission-critical power applications globally. For many of the world’s banks and financial institutions, governmental agencies, data centre operators, telecoms networks and airports, as well as hospitals, semiconductor and pharmaceutical manufacturers, Piller equipment is the go-to technology, earning the mantra Nothing protects quite like Piller.
Piller was founded by Anton Piller in Hamburg in 1909. Today the company is headquartered in Osterode, near Hanover in Germany, with subsidiaries across Europe, in the USA, India, Singapore and Australia. The company employs around 1,000 people worldwide, the majority in Germany.
In 2016 Piller acquired the Austin TX kinetic energy storage producer, Active Power Inc.
Piller Group GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK engineering and industrial group, Langley Holdings plc and is part of the Power Solutions Division in collaboration with sister companies Bergen Engines AS and Marelli Motori Srl.