Tag Archives: Kari Punnonen

Wärtsilä extends relationship with Masbate gold project in Philippines

Environmental, Mine operation news, Mining services, Power supply for mines, , , , , ,

Technology group Wärtsilä has signed a five-year renewal of its Operation and Maintenance (O&M) agreement with Phil. Gold Processing & Refining Corp (PGPRC) for the Masbate gold project (MGP) power plant located on Masbate Island in the Philippines.

Wärtsilä has operated and maintained the power plant since 2009, and the renewal order was booked by Wärtsilä in June 2023.

Phil. Gold operates the processing plant in the MGP operations. Phil. Gold is fully owned by gold producer, B2Gold.

The Masbate mine is around 360 km southeast of the country’s capital, Manila, and has no connection to the grid. The power plant is, therefore, the sole source of electricity, and its operational reliability is essential to maintain the mine’s production schedules.

Ryan Rusk, President at PGPRC, said: “The plant’s availability, efficiency and reliability are critical to our operations. Wärtsilä has provided the professional support to ensure that we get the power we need for the past fourteen years, so it was natural that we continue this agreement.”

Kari Punnonen, Energy Business Director at Wärtsilä, added: “Wärtsilä has extensive experience in providing power to mining operations around the world. The locations can be challenging, often with high ambient temperatures and limited water supplies for cooling purposes. Our engine technology is designed to deal with these conditions, and our maintenance agreements are built around serving the specific needs of each individual customer. We have developed a strong relationship with PGPRC over the years, and we are delighted to continue this cooperation with this contract extension.”

The power plant, which has recently been expanded, has a maximum output of 47 MW. In the Philippines, Wärtsilä has altogether 1,600 MW, 104 MW is operated by Wärtsilä under O&M agreements.

Wärtsilä energy storage system reinforces Zenith Energy’s power plan at Australian underground mine

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, , , , , ,

Wärtsilä will supply a 9.2 MW/8.7 MWh energy storage system to Zenith Energy, an Independent Power Producer in Australia, to address a cyclic load demand in an underground mine.

The installed energy storage system will operate in parallel with an existing dual fuel engine power plant currently with total capacity of 65.98 MW, Wärtsilä says.

The energy storage system will be delivered on an engineered equipment delivery basis and is expected to become operational in the March quarter of 2022. The order was booked in June 2021.

Zenith Energy is a repeat customer for Wärtsilä and had previously procured three operating Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel engines that are used for constant load feed. Zenith will add a further two Wärtsilä 34SG pure gas engines to the current fleet in 2022.

The new energy storage system, combining the fully integrated GridSolv Quantum modules and GEMS Digital Energy Platform, will cater to a more frequent cycling load, the company says. Adding storage will save the engines from frequent ramping by managing the power fluctuations of the mining site, therefore improving the operational efficiency, resulting in fuel savings and a lower carbon footprint for the mine’s power plant.

Simon Jelly, Technology and Infrastructure Manager, Zenith Energy, says: “Wärtsilä as the supplier of both engine and the energy storage systems provides the best solution available for us to feed power efficiently to our end customer. The addition of an energy storage system to also work as spinning reserve to provide emergency back-up and short duration power, will mitigate any power interruptions. Should such situations occur, the system will supply load until a stand-by engine is started. Moreover, the storage system will help further reduce the plant’s carbon footprint.”

Kari Punnonen, Energy Business Director, Australasia, Wärtsilä, says: “For islanded grids, such as mining plants, where the source of power is limited, our energy storage solution can manage the reliability and efficiency of the system and also support their decarbonisation initiative. Repeat business with our customer Zenith Energy, reaffirms our technology leadership and commitments towards this market.”

Wärtsilä’s GEMS Digital Energy Platform will integrate Zenith’s engines and operate as a Power Plant Controller, providing a platform for intelligent control and optimised operation for the hybrid plant, it says. GEMS is also capable of managing the remote grid under a single portfolio in future operations.

With Wärtsilä’s energy storage and advanced energy management system, there will be future opportunities for Zenith to seamlessly integrate other renewable energy sources such as  photovoltaic solar or wind into this hybrid network, it says.