Australian Mining shines a light on Atlas Copco’s Zenergize battery energy storage range, which delivers zero-carbon power generation without compromising on performance.
The global energy crisis and rising inflation have seen fuel prices in Australia rise to new highs in recent times.
And with many of the heavy machines that underpin today’s Australian mining industry running on petrol and diesel, miners and contractors are facing cost pressures like never before.
In parallel, the Australian mining sector is facing new challenges environmentally, with net-zero obligations and goals necessitating action on emissions reduction.
This is where battery energy storage can help.
As much as electric vehicles are becoming more and more prominent, battery energy storage is also growing in popularity.
Atlas Copco has developed a battery energy storage solution (BESS) that can deliver more than 12 hours of power with a single charge, which can be charged from empty to full in 90 minutes.
The leading original equipment manufacturer’s Zenergize system can serve as a primary source of power, replacing a generator when noise sensitivity is a concern or when fuel fumes are not permitted, or where large generators are low loaded which can damage the engine or burn fuel unnecessarily.
Through Zenergize, mining customers can be smarter with how they manage their power.
“By incorporating smart load management with the Zenergize BESS, customers have been able to significantly reduce their fuel consumption by running generators less,” Atlas CEA power specialist Greg Conrad told Australian Mining.
“This is because the Zenergize system can supply power during peak periods and during the night when loads are much lower and noise pollution is unsuitable for construction and camp sites.
“Customers are also able to reduce the size of the generator required and possibly go down an engine size which means lower upfront capital equipment cost, lower fuel usage, less maintenance, and less-expensive spare-parts cost that a larger generator requires.”
And these aren’t the only benefits.
“The Zenergize system has also been able to reduce generator run hours and associated servicing costs,” Conrad said. “And by adding more renewable energy, such as solar panels, straight into the power system or directly into the batteries, the customer proportionally reduces the amount of fossil fuels used.”
Built with high-density lithium-ion batteries, the Zenergize system is lighter than traditional alternatives, making transportation easier, while the machine is also 70 per cent more compact, enabling greater versatility, usability and scalability.
And operators can be assured they’re not losing out on power quality, with medium 10kVA (kilovolt-ampere) to 90kVA and large 100kVA and 1000kVA Zenergize ranges designed to deliver optimum performance across their 12 hours of operation.
The BESS is also durable, delivering 40,000 hours of power across their life, equating to more than 5000 cycles or over 1600 days of continuous operation. This leads to a low total cost of ownership, with the system potentially paying itself back within approximately three years.
Perhaps most significantly, the Zenergize system generates zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when operated alone. And when operated in hybrid mode alongside a generator, the Zenergize system can reduce GHG emissions by up to 50 per cent.
Atlas Copco estimates this can lead to savings of 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions across the machine’s lifecycle, or the equivalent of planting 450 trees.
The Zenergize medium-range BESS, the ZBP, has a compact footprint of 1.4 square metres, while the large-range solution, the ZBC, has a footprint of 7.3 square metres and is seen as an ideal solution for demanding applications requiring a constant and significant flow of power.
The ZBC is also scalable, with the potential for 30 ZBCs to be working in parallel on any power node, and it can even act as the ‘brain’ of a microgrid, managing the power supply of entire areas such as small towns, university campuses, and neighbourhoods.
To support the Zenergize battery energy storage range, Atlas CEA – Atlas Copco’s Australian distributor – has a comprehensive service team across its branches in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, with technicians at the ready for servicing or if a customer runs into any difficulties.
Through the Zenergize system, Atlas Copco has innovated an inspired new way of delivering improved environmental outcomes on mine sites without compromising on performance.
Operators can reduce fuel costs and limit their carbon footprint, satisfying two rising industry missions with one solution.
As the need to decarbonise becomes more pressing in a power-dependent Australian mining industry, the Zenergize battery energy storage range has an important role to play in the years to come.
This feature appeared in the May 2023 issue of Australian Mining.