Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/937377
68 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 8 MINING The holding strength of an earth anchor being verified in real-time during the installation of an Osprey PowerPlatform. Photo Courtesy of Nuance Energy. R enewable energy, as a viable part of the energy mix in mining, is evolving from concept to reality as the effi- ciency of various technologies increases and the price of implementation decreases. Brian C. Boguess, CEO and founder of Nuance Energy Group Inc., spoke to Resource World about his company's Lift & Shift™, low-cost, portable, solar power, hybrid energy solution for mining micro grids – the Osprey PowerPlatform. One thing that makes the Osprey PowerPlatform groundbreaking is the fact that it literally does not "break" the ground. Boguess told Resource World, our solar racking that holds solar panels looks like a table with legs that are secured to a ground mount platform using only minimal penetrating earth anchor founda- tions. This allows for very low cost, rapid deployment with minimal time to install. Conventionally, large I beams are driven into the ground with a heavy pile driver machines. Sometimes thousands of these I beams are driven into the ground and because they cannot be removed without difficulty and cost they likely will remain in the environment for many, many years. The Osprey PowerPlatform, says Boguess, "is easy to install, uninstall and has zero impact on the environment. Because it is modular and transportable a company can literally take this capital asset and move it from one location to another." Solar has reached grid parity; it is already an attractive investment. It is a predictable asset because you can deter- mine what the production of solar energy will be over a 30-year life span. "We can take that predictable asset and go to a min- ing operation, contractor or developer and replace, say 20% – 50% or more of their diesel with a cheaper form of energy," Boguess explains. "We combine solar with energy storage and supplement the high cost of diesel power with a lower cost of energy (renewable)... Having a hybrid energy solution mitigates the risk of the mining operation." "Until now," said Boguess, "no one has been able to finance under a power pur- chase agreement (PPA), a mobile micro grid hybrid solution for mining." This is because the risk has been too great for finance groups to invest in a renew- able energy asset that would eventually become stranded at the end of operations. "However, using our modular Osprey PowerPlatform, a ground mount solar rack- ing system of any size from 5kW to 50MW, can now be deployed and redeployed from a location to any other location and the renewable asset can be retained. Therefore, financing under a PPA is now possible. We just need to get the word out." Boguess says installation can take as little as a few days for a smaller system (50 kilowatts) to a few months for a larger system (50 megawatts). Nuance Energy is available to consult with mining compa- nies and EPCs interested in their unique modular, hybrid power solution. n Nuance Energy offers modular and portable solar energy solutions to mining industry by Kathrine Moore