Epiroc explores solutions to grid challenges and ways to accelerate the transition to electrified mining operations
The electrification of surface mining calls for smart power management which in turn means that we must understand how electric surface drill rigs behave when connected to the electrical grid.
While this transition is a must, it does face several tough infrastructural challenges, including weak grids, remote grids and grid contingencies. Besides the lack of good infrastructure, there are also issues when it comes to increasing the capacity of the grid. While renewable sources, like sun and wind, have the potential to add a lot of green capacity, they may face conditions where they aren’t reliable. Furthermore, adding more power to the grid, even without capacity issues, will infer major capital spending. And operating MW-level machines in medium voltage distribution grids poses significant challenges.
To optimise the trade-off between increasing the available capacity in the grid and operating a profitable business, actors must learn how connected electric surface drill rigs behave. And how they must interact with other equipment in the mine to make sure the operations run as smoothly as possible.
In this paper, Epiroc’s Ritwik Majumder and Robert Saers look at these issues, and how smart power management will help solve the challenges of peak power and energy requirements during the work cycles of the machines. Also, we point to how this matter is increasingly important as more and more mines are electrified.
Yet, while being highly challenging, we also show how power management is like a multi-tool that will optimize individual machines as well as aid in full fleet management. First and foremost, as a way to guarantee there is enough power to run the mining operations with the right reliability and predictability. Secondly, we will show how power management offers a straightforward way to cut capital spending by as much as 20% while significantly cutting operating costs.
Find out more in the full whitepaper
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