Power supplies player Aggreko is to deploy an off-grid solar-battery-thermal generation plant at a remote operation in Western Australia.
The contract, with Gold Fields Australia, covers the design, build and operation of a hybrid microgrid at the offtaker’s ‘Granny Smith’ gold mine, located 720km from Perth.
Construction is expected to start in May 2019 and complete by the year-end.
The system will comprise 8MW of photovoltaic generation and a 2MW (one megawatt hour) battery integrated with 24.2MW of existing natural gas generation.
The project will be covered under a single as-a-service rental contract with no capital outlay from Gold Fields.
The microgrid assets will be integrated and managed by Aggreko’s control software platform.
The software controls will maintain full system availability and will also optimise the lifetime of the existing gas plant.
The solar-plus-battery system is projected to reduce fuel consumption by 10-13% and generate 18 gigawatt hours of clean energy a year.
The Granny Smith power station was designed and installed by Aggreko in 2016.
The new hybrid power system, combined with a thermal station expansion at the mine, will meet the increased daily power needs of the entire mine of 24.2MW, with 12.2MW allocated to the Wallaby underground mine and the remaining 12MW for the processing plant, associated facilities and mining camp.
While the PV array will reduce the need to run thermal generators, the battery plant will provide essential services such as spinning reserve displacement, PV ramp rate control and transient voltage/frequency support.
Aggreko microgrid and storage solutions business unit managing director Karim Wazni said: “We are on the industry forefront in offering a range of microgrid configurations on an as-a-service basis for users who want to leverage the benefits of a hybrid energy solution while minimising capital outlay.
“The Granny Smith power station is a flagship example of what can be done with advanced technologies, intelligent engineering, and a committed, innovation-minded customer.”
Gold Fields currently operates all three of its Western Australian gold mines from gas-powered generating systems.