Hitachi Energy pioneers innovations for sustainable mining
Hitachi Energy is building on more than 240 years of innovation to advance a sustainable energy future for all. The company is a key industry partner with more than 45,000 employees globally, delivering significant customer value with a comprehensive portfolio addressing decarbonisation, electrification, and digitalisation.
Hitachi Energy is well positioned to address the key challenges for the Australian mining industry. Its pioneering technologies ensure reliable energy supply at remote mine sites for 24/7 operations increasingly a challenge for the industry in an environment where electrification is adding to power demand. The company’s products, solutions, services, and software solutions allow miners to meet ESG targets and regulations, maintaining health & safety records and global competitiveness.
According to Bernard Norton, country managing director of Hitachi Energy in Australia, it’s vital to form strong partnerships across the value chain to scale solutions quickly and effectively.
“With electrification, many mines will see their power demand soar and will need to plan accordingly. We collaborate with customers to accelerate the energy transition and ensure the technology is available in time for projects. Customers want to partner with a technology supplier with leading products and innovations, with global and diversified supply chains service footprint.”
Hitachi Energy’s key products in demand with Australian miners include battery energy storage systems (BESS), power quality and high voltage solutions, transformers, fast-charging solutions, asset performance and field service management software, to name a few.
Microgrids and reliable power for remote mine sites
For off-grid mining, renewable energy and storage technologies present an ideal opportunity not only to improve the mine’s environmental footprint, but also reduce energy costs while improving power quality. The mining industry is energy intensive, with power consumption accounting for 15 percent to 40 percent of a mine’s total operating budget. Most mines, especially in remote off-grid regions, rely heavily on diesel or gas generators for power. Mines are also under severe scrutiny to follow local and international environmental regulations while working towards achieving Net Zero emissions from their operations.
BESS can be added to improve overall generator efficiency or create virtual spinning reserve, the latter having one of the most compelling business cases for storage with paybacks typically under five years. Some mine operators are already using their own land adjacent to mines to generate solar energy that is then used to power mining operations. These mine owned projects can then be scaled up and tied to the grid to sell excess power back to local communities.
Made in Australia power quality solutions
The grid of the future needs to be more sophisticated, resilient, and stable to cope with the increasing demands for flexibility on both the supply and demand side. Electrification is the backbone of decarbonising operations. As the reliance on electricity increases, operations become ever more dependent on a resilient network.
Proudly manufacturing in Australia since the 1960s, Hitachi Energy drives innovation with solutions for the stability of the electrical grid and power quality. The Hitachi Energy factory in Lilydale, Victoria, is a Global Centre of Excellence for metal enclosed capacitor banks, medium voltage distribution vacuum switches and power factor controllers, with the majority of products manufactured in Lilydale designed and developed by Australian R&D.
These solutions have been successfully working for decades in Australian mine operations, continue to drive innovation to meet the evolving electrification requirements of mine operators.
Charging solutions for heavy haul trucks and excavators
Two key focus areas for Hitachi Energy are standards and interoperability, working with miners and other industry partners. Safety and reliability are critical to the success of heavy haul flash charge solutions, leveraging Hitachi Energy’s bus charging solution and scaling it up for mining including support for high-power static charging and dynamic charging.
Hitachi Energy also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with BluVein to collaborate in developing a high-powered, fast, and flexible dynamic charging solution for surface and underground mines.
Facilitating the use of renewable energy
The recent acquisition of eks Energy is a strategic investment in the charging solutions space (such as the Waratah 840MW/1680MWh super battery) and forms part of the company’s portfolio of technologies, which can scale up to the largest capacities.
Digitalisation is vital for navigating the energy transition
The ability to understand and digitally replicate today’s mining operations, processes, and efficiencies – a so called “baseline” mining scenario – can be a huge advantage in planning the electrification transition.
Norton said “Digitalisation is a foundational requirement of a sustainable energy solution and it also enables higher flexibility and efficiency across all mining processes, as well as improving safety.”
“Hitachi Energy’s digital solutions provide value add from software, from monitoring & control solutions and asset management to energy trading and digital replicas/twins. As part of Hitachi, our customers can leverage process optimisation by combining IT and OT with a wide range of solutions that have been proven to help our mining clients navigate the energy transition.”
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