By Erik Pretorius, head of sales: Africa and Australia, ABB.
Mining houses are confronted with the same energy transition as other industries, and have an urgent responsibility to transform the way they mine through technological change. It is clear that the energy needs of the modern mine simply cannot be met sustainably with diesel machinery alone. There has to be a transformation, and ABB is committed to working with mines to bring it about.
The company says it cares deeply about the health, safety and wellbeing of our planet, as much as it does the people who inhabit it. Its vision is for CO2-free and energy-efficient mines to help combat climate change, creating sustainable progress for today and for future generations.
ABB works hand in hand with its clients and partners to convert existing mines from fossil fuel energy to all-electric. In this way, the company can assist the mining industry in meeting its sustainability goals, while staying competitive and ensuring high productivity.
ABB Ability eMine makes the all-electric mine possible, with fully integrated electrification and digital systems from mine to port. The solution includes a portfolio of electrification and digital systems to accelerate decarbonisation in the mining sector. ABB supports the mining industry from the early mine design stage to convey the full benefit posed by electrification, assisting with designing the hauling process to optimise it with electrical solutions that match mine constraints and help meet production targets.
The solution also focuses on supplying power to mining vehicles, with fit-for-purpose electrification to achieve the most optimised electrified process. In addition, the solution integrates with ABB Ability applications to plan, monitor and control processes to optimise operations and energy usage.
A key component of keeping the all-electric mine running is ensuring that the equipment performs when required and that trucks can charge when they need to. ABB provides charging station solutions to meet the needs of modern mining operations and interface with all vehicles.
eMine is vehicle-type and OEM agnostic in that it supports an interoperable approach based on proven standards to provide any solution needed to charge battery electric vehicles (BEVs). A new pilot innovation, known as ABB Ability eMine FastCharge, is set to become the world’s fastest and only fully automated charging system for haul trucks, offering up to 600 kW of power. Designed for the harshest environments, this flexible system can easily be installed anywhere to charge a truck without human intervention – and at the highest power on the market today, to minimise downtime.
The solution includes ABB Ability eMine Trolley System technology to reduce diesel consumption by up to 90% while haul trucks are on a trolley system, which also reduces energy costs and environmental impact. In addition, electrified trucks run at a higher speed for a better speed-on-grade.
Current trolley technology is based on diesel hybrids and can be supported by ABB’s Trolley System to assist with the successful transition to an all-electric mine. The system is ideal for heavy-duty vehicles such as those used for inclined hauling, an application that battery-only solutions cannot cater for at present.
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