Reducing energy costs and increasing power reliability are key goals for the mining industry in Africa. In addition, the mining industry is keenly focused on sustainability goals. That means, in part, lowering reliance on carbon fuels like coal, diesel, and HFO. Mining energy solutions that integrate renewable energy power production can help meet important sustainability goals as well as reliable performance, and help lower cost of electricity.
GE Gas Power delivers power generation and distribution systems that can help meet the needs of mining operations for cost-effective, reliable, and readily available power. Plus, our mining power generation solutions also help reduce the environmental impacts of mining and drive cleaner, more efficient operations. Our mining energy solutions include power plant generators, as well as aeroderivative and heavy-duty gas turbines, many of which feature the flexibility to burn a wide range of fuel and enable similar synchronization with renewable power.
GE’s power generation and distribution systems for mining are created to increase efficiency and drive down cost. In addition, the global energy system is transforming at a scale and pace never experienced before. Integrating intermittent renewables and distributed energy into an aging grid requires flexible and resilient technologies, able to ramp up or down rapidly and dynamically adjust to real-time grid signals.
Thermal hybrids are GE’s solution to the grid firming challenge. These applications—involving the interfaced operation of a thermal asset with a renewable and/or an energy storage asset—are expanding the possibilities of electricity generation.
GE has more than 125 years of experience integrating the latest innovations in electricity generation and delivery—and hybrid power technology is no exception. Our hybrid energy system portfolio, backed by the experts whose equipment generates about one-third of the electricity in the world, can be customized and scaled to help meet your specific needs. Our wing-to-wing hybrid solutions range from upgrading and improving the capabilities of an existing facility to incorporating hybrid technologies into a new generation facility or transmission and distribution network.
GE offers a variety of aeroderivative and heavy-duty gas turbines for the mining industry to boost efficiency and lessen operational costs. Learn more about each to determine which turbine is right for you.
Recommended for mobile power applications available within three months and fast-track or short-term duration projects, the TM2500 50 Hz and 60 Hz solutions have a 33.6 MW average power output and 36.7% average net efficiency.
Its start time for a simple cycle is less than 5 minutes, and its ramp rate is 20MW/minute. The TM2500 is mobile and easy to transport, making it relocatable if project requirements change. Its small block size allows good part-power turndown and efficiency, and it supports reliable integration with renewables and mine grid stability with optional clutchless synchronous condensing.
Great for help to meet needs where flexible power is required quickly and efficiently, the LM2500XPRESS 50 Hz and 60 Hz power plants feature a 34 MW simple cycle power output and up to 39% simple cycle efficiency.
Its start time for a simple cycle is fewer than 5 minutes, and its ramp rate is 30 MW/minute. The LM2500XPRESS is a modular and scalable, prefabricated, skid-mounted, pre-commissioned solution with reduced on-site installation and commissioning and a zero gas turbine water consumption requirement.
The LM6000 allows you to operate on a wide variety of fuels—including natural gas, LPG (propane and butane), isopentane, ethanol, diesel, and Coke Oven gas.
This allows you to quickly switch between fuels to save money, all without stopping or a reduction in power. It has a 45-58 MW net power output and up to 41.3% net efficiency. Its start time for a simple cycle is less than 5 minutes, and its ramp rate is 50 MW/minute. The LM6000 offers 99%+ start and operational reliability, alongside 98% availability. Its fast start allows operators to differentiate their dispatch capability, and its dual-fuel capabilities provide fuel flexibility and help customers meet emissions limits.
Mining operations around the world know that working together with GE means safe and reliable power that enhances production levels and lowers energy costs.
Mining operations that choose GE for their mining industry power generation needs can expect:
Mastering energy demand in Botswana
Driving efficiency with improved asset reliability in Nigeria
Helping deliver reliable power to remote locations
Mastering energy demand in Botswana
Driving efficiency with improved asset reliability in Nigeria
Helping deliver reliable power to remote locations
The Orapa Power Station is a peak load power generation plant in a mining town in northeastern Botswana’s Central District. The plant was a response to the mining industry’s electricity needs as well as serious energy shortfalls that plagued the country.
The plant uses two 45MW GE LM6000 gas turbines supplied by GE Gas Power. These dual fuel Sprint simple cycle units are among more than 6,000 turbines in GE's fleet installed throughout the world. Orapa station serves as an emergency power facility when supply from conventional electricity generation sources is inadequate to meet demand.
Operating in a densely populated region of a densely populated country, Nigeria’s Dangote Cement PLC not only needed to reduce unplanned downtime, but also needed to become energy self-sufficient. With seven aging turbines and a need for digital connectivity, they turned to GE Gas Power.
Nigerian citizens depending on reliable power
hours added to Dangote's service agreement
GE’s digital solutions will allow us to anticipate further reductions in downtime and to become more self-sufficient in power production in a country with approximately 190 million inhabitants. Operational performance is crucial in the most populous country in Africa, and it also being the seventh most populous country in the world.
Ravi Sood
Operations Director, Dangote Cement PLC
In the Pilbara region of Western Australia, Rio Tinto operates the world's largest integrated mining operation for iron ore, the primary raw material used to make steel. Heavy-duty, reliable, and efficient sources of power are necessary to help ensure uninterrupted operation. But the mines’ remote locations make it technically and logistically challenging to add them to the electric grid. Rio Tinto turned to GE to provide an on-site power solution at the remote West Angelas site.
+ efficiency
output
GE installed their LM6000 aeroderivative gas turbine. The LM6000 is one of the most efficient open-cycle gas turbines in the world. The turbines help deliver more than 40 MW of power at more than 40% efficiency while maintaining 25 parts per million (ppm) nitrous oxide levels when running on gas fuel and 85 ppm when running on diesel fuel. Additionally, GE's dual-fuel DLE technology can lower nitrous oxide emissions without needing water injection, which is a significant benefit for customers with limited water availability, a common issue in Australia.
