Electrification of Mobile Mining Equipment Can be Cheaper than Diesel

Over the last years, an increasing number of mining companies have committed to ambitious CO2 targets.

This is a good thing due to environmental reasons, but as publicly listed companies they need to ...

Over the last years, an increasing number of mining companies have committed to ambitious CO2 targets.

This is a good thing due to environmental reasons, but as publicly listed companies they need to justify their investments.

How can electrification of mobile mining equipment be cheaper than using a good old diesel engine?

So, while there are many reasons to actually go electric, there are a number of challenges associated with it.

First and foremost, you need to have the power on site.

This needs to be reliable, and if aiming for lower greenhouse gas emissions, it also needs to be sourced from renewable energy sources.

While co-generation is popular, especially in areas with an unreliable electricity grid and a high number of outage hours per year, co-generation typically involves gas turbines, as they can be started quickly and are reliable.

While many mines can also generate electricity from renewable sources, this is often not enough to cover peak demand and remains an add-on in many cases.

The investments in power infrastructure from E-houses, charging stations and trolley lines, to simple cabling, electricity storage, co-generation, etc.

As electric vehicles need charging, the charging needs to be scheduled to avoid peaks in power demand, which is typically quite stable in an industry focusing on 24/7 availability.

Selected OEMs of mining equipment have introduced battery swapping systems.

Under any circumstances, a well-designed micro-grid (see here Siemens and Juwi ) and energy management software needs to manage the supply and demand of electric power.

Over the last years, an increasing number of mining companies have committed to ambitious CO2 targets.

This is a good thing due to environmental reasons, but as publicly listed companies they need to justify their investments.

How can electrification of mobile mining equipment be cheaper than using a good old diesel engine?

So, while there are many reasons to actually go electric, there are a number of challenges associated with it.

First and foremost, you need to have the power on site.

This needs to be reliable, and if aiming for lower greenhouse gas emissions, it also needs to be sourced from renewable energy sources.

While co-generation is popular, especially in areas with an unreliable electricity grid and a high number of outage hours per year, co-generation typically involves gas turbines, as they can be started quickly and are reliable.

While many mines can also generate electricity from renewable sources, this is often not enough to cover peak demand and remains an add-on in many cases.

The investments in power infrastructure from E-houses, charging stations and trolley lines, to simple cabling, electricity storage, co-generation, etc.

As electric vehicles need charging, the charging needs to be scheduled to avoid peaks in power demand, which is typically quite stable in an industry focusing on 24/7 availability.

Selected OEMs of mining equipment have introduced battery swapping systems.

Under any circumstances, a well-designed micro-grid (see here Siemens and Juwi ) and energy management software needs to manage the supply and demand of electric power.

While trolleys are certainly the best solution for surface transportation, in underground mining, battery electric vehicles are the more practicable solution.