The Government of Canada has backed two new projects that could see an increase in the amount of renewable energy used on remote mine sites in the country’s north.
Paul Lefebvre, Parliamentary Secretary to the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, this week announced a combined C$4.2-million ($3.2 million) investment for two TUGLIQ Energy Corp projects in Nunavut and Quebec.
An investment of C$283,000 will enable TUGLIQ to complete a front-end engineering and design study to integrate compressed air energy storage with its operations, enabling increased use of wind energy at a Nunavut mine – IM understands this to be the TMAC Resources-owned Hope Bay gold project.
“This project will demonstrate that such a system can achieve significant reductions in diesel consumption,” the Government of Canada said.
A second investment of C$3.9 million in RAGLAN 2.0 will expand Nunavik’s first renewable energy production and storage centre (wind turbine pictured) for 16 regional mining operations and Inuit communities in this Arctic region, as well as other mining operations abroad.
RAGLAN 2.0, builds on a prior landmark project, RAGLAN 1.0, which conclusively proved the technical and operational capabilities of industrial-scale renewable energy at northern sites (Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine), under harsh industrial and climatic conditions, according to Natural Resources Canada (NRC).
With energy storage consisting of a flywheel to level-off any speed fluctuations and stabilise the strain and frequency of the autonomous grid, 250 kWh lithium-ion batteries to support the grid, a hydrogen loop comprised of an electrolyser, high pressure storage tanks and fuel cells, a microcontroller and supervisory control and data acquisition for remote monitoring, the project has so far been a success. In 2018, TUGLIQ doubled its installed wind capacity at the Raglan mine. A total of 6 MW is now up and running, producing clean electricity from wind energy in this remote area of the Canadian Arctic. More than 4 million litres of diesel is being avoided every year.
It involves project partners Enercon, Glencore Raglan mine, HATCH Ltd, Moreau Electrique and Québec’s Ministry of Natural Resources – EcoPerformance Program.
Both projects are being funded through NRC’s Energy Innovation Program, which received C$49 million over three years to support clean energy innovation, and “will ensure that clean energy technologies are widely affordable — helping drive economic growth, create jobs and help with the transition to a low-carbon economy”, the NRC said.
“Through Canada’s national energy dialogue, Generation Energy, Canadians expressed that Canada has an opportunity to be a leader in the transition to a clean growth economy. We will continue to support innovative and clean initiatives that create jobs for the middle class, support Canadian industry competitiveness, clean our air and act on climate change.”