CHAM New Energy: The Innovative Grid-forming Green Power Generator Sets Are Facilitating Green Mining

On October 15, the China Mining Conference & Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as CHINA MINING), with the theme of "Promoting Mining Cooperation for a Better Future", was successfully held. Based on the on-site situation, the CHINA MINING 2024 gained great attention and positive response from the domestic and international mining industries, with the venue area significantly increased to 40,000 square meters compared with previous years and the total number of expected participants and visitors reaching nearly 10,000, including 4,500 delegates from 41 countries and regions.

The all-round promotion of green mining is both an opportunity and a challenge. At CHAM New Energy's booth, Director Wu of the corporation's System Research Institute, was presenting the "Total Solution to Green Power for Mines" to the participants. This solution is designed to facilitate green mining and zero-carbon sustainable development in mine areas with the corporation's innovative grid-forming green power generator sets.

According to Director Wu, when mining enterprises increase the use of new energy power, due to a high percentage of new energy and a high percentage of power electronic equipment access, their new energy power systems often suffer from various problems, including insufficient active support of the system voltage, lack of moment of inertia, insufficient damping, difficulties in power dispatching, etc. To this end, with a view to creating stable green power for mines worldwide, CHAM New Energy is committed to providing more appropriate green power microgrid solutions to facilitate the increase in the percentage of green power supply to mines by mining enterprises, as well as their ultimate 100% green power supply. 

Full-scenario Green Power Solution for Green and Zero-carbon Transition

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping Thought on Eco-Civilization, the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets has been a common principle for the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, and the green, recycling and low carbon development has become a common action in all regions and sectors.

On April 16, 2024, seven ministries, including the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Finance, etc., jointly issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Construction of Green Mines, setting out the following main objectives: By the end of 2028, the work mechanism for the construction of green mines will be further improved. It is expected that 90% of large-scale mines and 80% of medium-scale mines that are in operation and hold valid licenses will meet the requirements of green mine standards. Localities may strengthen the management of small mines by referring to the green mine standards, taking into account their respective realities.

In the context of green mines, mining enterprises must make corresponding changes to accelerate the implementation of carbon-cutting upgrades. Director Wu suggested that the clean energy transition is a win-win initiative for mining enterprise to go green, reduce costs and increase efficiency, which can facilitate their high-quality sustainable development.

In addition, Director Wu particularly pointed out that the wind-photovoltaic energy storage is the key path to providing pure green energy. The "wind-photovoltaic energy storage" system refers to a complementary energy supply system formed by combining renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, with energy storage power stations. Wind and solar energy are clean and renewable, but they are intermittent and unstable largely due to natural conditions. Energy storage power stations are capable of storing surplus electricity from renewable energy power generation during peak periods and releasing it during trough periods, thus enabling stable supply of electricity. The combination of these two not only improves the utilization of clean energy, but also enhances the stability and reliability of the grid.

At the CHINA MINING 2024, the Standard Solution to Green Carbon Mines exhibited by CHAM New Energy constructs a centralized-distributed zero-carbon networking solution through the organic combination of centralized and distributed power sources, on the basis of the grid-forming green power generator sets. The centralized green carbon power generator set consists of wind-photovoltaic-thermal energy storage modules and constructs the main microgrid for mines. The distributed green carbon power generator sets are distributed in the distributed energy storage systems arranged for various important loads in the operations to achieve local consumption, local regulation and separate power backup.

In terms of parameters, the grid-forming green carbon power generator sets provided by CHAM New Energy consist of "100MW photovoltaic + 80MW/400MWh energy storage + gas-fired sets", which can generate 150 million kWh of green power annually, with seven identical arrays capable of generating over 1 billion kWh of green power annually. Through multi-objective, multi-timescale fast source-grid-load-storage coordination control and optimized scheduling control, this solution can 100% realize the safe, stable, cost-effective operation of new energy power systems in their full cycle, saving millions of yuan of diesel power generation costs per day, and effectively addressing the industry challenge of cost-effective, high-quality, clean and reliable power supply for mining loads.

Reduce Energy Costs by 25% while Achieving the ESG Carbon Reduction Target

Based on his experience in the field, Director Wu analyzed CHAM's total solution to distributed zero-carbon microgrids for green mines in five major application scenarios one by one, answered relevant problems, and explained why CHAM New Energy's solution is safer, more reliable, stable and flexible.

The five major power consumption scenarios in mine areas include mining power consumption, processing power consumption, household power consumption, battery charging/swapping for transportation, and emergency standby power. Energy storage products, as emergency power sources, are able to respond quickly to power fluctuations or interruptions, ensuring the continuity and safety of various operations.

The energy storage system designed by CHAM New Energy can store energy during off-peak hours and release it during peak hours, thus reducing the load on the transformer, which not only optimizes power management, but also reduces the power cost of mining. Moreover, CHAM New Energy's energy storage system is equipped with an intelligent management system, which can effectively control noise, remote monitoring of operations, etc.

CHAM New Energy's batteries are capable of 10,000+ cycles, which is expected to result in a 25% increase in mine revenue. The excellent cycle performance not only extends battery life, but also reduces the replacement frequency and maintenance costs. CHAM New Energy expects the total solution to distributed zero-carbon microgrids for green mines to reduce carbon emissions by 3 million tons over a full life cycle of 25 years, with a payback period of about five years.

At the exhibition site, Director Wu made a detailed introduction and summary of the outdoor container energy storage system, power battery pack, and liquid-cooled energy storage system cabinet involved in the solution.

The outdoor container energy storage system is designed with combined cabinets on both sides, reducing the floor space by 30%, and is equipped with three levels of active safety + four levels of passive safety protection, which makes it more adaptable to a variety of severe operating environments. The system will be pre-commissioned at the factory and will be ready for production and use upon arrival.

The power battery pack is designed as a pack made of high-strength profiles, with the design meeting the vibration requirements of Xizang Road Spectrum Test Standards for Standard Packs for Mining Trucks, and features ultra-high specific energy integration, which lowers the center of gravity of heavy trucks, making the vehicles more stable and reliable on the way, and improves the load space. Moreover, the intelligent system enables intelligent battery swapping for CHAM New Energy's power battery pack, saving more than 80% of charging time.

The outdoor cabinet energy storage system is designed as one with a wide temperature range for all-weather use. For enterprises with higher safety requirements, an optional explosion venting design that meets the NFPA 69 Standard is available. In addition, considering the limited power storage capacity of a single energy storage device, the outdoor cabinet energy storage system launched by CHAM New Energy can be flexibly configured to dynamically expand its capacity by combining multiple cabinets, which better meets the requirements during heavier power load hours and under high loads.

Before concluding his product presentation, Director Wu suggested that with carbon tariffs becoming the new constraint on exports, a low-carbon supply chain should be the key to breaking through the constraint. The global trend towards carbon reduction by large mining enterprises is already evident, and the trade policies will tend to embrace enterprises with low emissions. This inspires mining enterprises that only by practicing low carbon emission and carbon reduction as much as possible, and actively cooperating on the requirements of environmental protection and sustainable development in the international market, can they further integrate into the local market and secure growth.

It is reported that during the two days of the CHINA MINING 2024, CHAM New Energy's booth was visited by leaders of many countries and national ministries and commissions, and attracted the representatives of mining enterprises at home and abroad to stop by for exchanges and discussions, reaching over 5,000 views. The corporation networked with more than 500 domestic and overseas enterprises from Uzbekistan, Denmark, Canada, Afghanistan, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Saudi Arabia, Australia, South Africa, Ecuador, Colombia, Singapore, etc., and reached cooperation intentions with more than 100 of them.

A New Energy Solution Provider with Two Decades of Experience

Since its establishment in 2003, CHAM New Energy has been developing for more than 20 years, obtaining more than 490 technology patents, and possessing a national CNAS-accredited laboratory and a top-notch R&D team. At present, the corporation has five global production bases, including the Southwest Power and Energy Storage Base, the Northern Industrial Base in Yantai, the Smart Manufacturing Clusters for Wide Temperature Range Energy in the Yangtze River Delta, the Intelligent Industrial Base in the Bay Area, and the Industrial Base in Southeast Asia. With its products covering advanced energy storage, green mobility, intelligent equipment and other application scenarios, it specializes in providing customers with turnkey solutions ranging from cells to battery packs and covering a complete range of products, and in offering the best match between cells and application systems to customers.

In respect of full-scenario energy storage solutions, CHAM New Energy has established a number of projects, including the 100MWh photovoltaic energy storage project in the desert region of Northwest China in Kashgar, Xinjiang, the 5MWh fishery and photovoltaic complementary power project in Jiangxi, the project of zero-carbon wharf with integrated photovoltaic energy storage and charging of Qingdao Shipyard Co., Ltd. in Shandong, the 10MWh offshore microgrid energy storage system in Maldives, the zero-carbon mine off-grid project in South Africa, and the mining project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

At a time when the pace of energy storage and the green, zero-carbon era is accelerating, CHAM New Energy is committed to in-depth research and lean manufacturing in the field of energy storage. In addition to zero-carbon mines, the corporation's planning for zero-carbon wharfs and industrial parks are gradually being improved and established.

CHAM New Energy is moving towards digital, intelligent, green and zero-carbon development, with its newly built Mianyang CHAM Digital Factory as a model of zero-carbon industrial parks. The factory's fully-automated high-speed production line of large cylindrical wide-temperature-range quasi-solid batteries is ahead of Japan and Korea in terms of production process, with a product yield of up to 99.5%. Moreover, the corporation has worked with SGS, a globally renowned green factory certification organization, to build a zero-carbon factory, which achieves 100% recycling of wastewater, energy, and waste materials and effectively reduces the operating costs of similar factories by more than 10%, which demonstrates the corporation's firm commitment and accomplishments on the path of sustainable development.

Relying on its top-notch core technologies and well-established total solutions, CHAM New Energy has promoted the low-carbon and green industry transition and injected great impetus into the sustainable development of society. CHAM New Energy is going all to contribute to the accelerated achievement of the objectives for carbon dioxide peaking and carbon neutrality.

Reprinted from a China Daily story