Wärtsilä Energy has been contracted by a leading gold mining company in South American country Suriname for the supply of an integrated 7.8-megawatt (MW) / 7.8-megawatt hour (MWh), utility-scale energy storage system.
Expected to be operational by late 2022, the system will cut fuel consumption at the gold mine by reducing the reliance on an emergency back-up spinning reserve. It will also lead to a decline in emissions by 5,600 metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually, improvement in engine life, and savings in O&M costs.
The contract represents Wärtsilä Energy’s first energy storage project in Suriname, and the first utility-scale energy system to be built in that country.
The project will include the supply of Wärtsilä’s GridSolv Quantum, a fully integrated, modular and compact energy storage system, pictured above. The GEMS Digital Energy Platform, Wärtsilä’s advanced energy management system, will optimise operations between the existing gensets at the mine and the new energy storage system.
GEMS also opens up the possiblity for integrating new renewable energy sources, with the potential for further decarbonization, a reduction in operating costs and the supply of green power to communities in the vicinity of the gold mine.
“GEMS continues to serve as a mature control technology, allowing customers to easily integrate new resources and intelligently optimise the dispatch of all power assets within a hybrid system,” said Marc Tarbox, General Manager, Contract and Agreements, Americas, Wärtsilä Energy.
Sources: Global Mining Review and Wärtsilä
Image Source: Wärtsilä Press Release