Gensets manufacturer HIMOINSA Southern Africa was selected to provide a build, own, operate, transfer (BOOT) power solution in the form of 12 MW diesel generator spinning reserve power for gold mining company Delta Gold Zimbabwe’s Eureka mine.

This will give Delta Gold certainty of power supply and will ensure minimal interruption to production, owing to outages.

HIMOINSA Southern Africa are specialists in providing power solutions to the mining industry across Southern and East Africa. Flexibility is key to its offering.

In 2020, the company was selected as the turnkey supplier to provide 12 MW power to the Eureka mine. When fully operational, the gold mine will be one of the largest in Zimbabwe.

HIMOINSA offered a BOOT financing solution for the project. The long-term finance lease agreement is coupled with a service and maintenance contract.

Although the mine is connected to Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority through the grid, Delta Gold will require additional power security, owing to the uncertainty in Zimbabwe as to how reliably the grid will perform. A minor outage of only a few minutes can cause the mine hours of production process delays, resulting in significant production and financial losses.

The scope of work includes the integration of the utility supply, as well as backup power diesel generators and on-site operational services.

In conjunction with Delta Gold, HIMOINSA Southern Africa developed an advanced diesel “spinning reserve” solution. In the event of multiple and consecutive grid outages, the spinning reserve solution offers a greater level of reliability of supply to maintain the necessary power levels at the mine, without disruption.

A supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system will be installed and integrated to communicate with the grid and the HIMOINSA generators. To avoid any downtime during periods of grid unreliability, the generators will run continually at a low load factor, in conjunction with the grid power. Should the grid fail, the SCADA system shuts down the power supply to all noncritical parts of the mine and the diesel generators pick up the full load of the mine’s critical process power requirements.

Sufficient spinning reserve power will always be available to provide the mine’s critical power requirements instantaneously. If there is a prolonged outage, more generators will automatically start so that all the mine’s operational power is generated and the HIMOINSA units seamlessly power the mine’s full production capabilities.

HIMOINSA Southern Africa will provide 12 MW power to the mine to ensure N+1 redundancy. Should there be a prolonged grid outage, it is important that the gensets run at optimum fuel efficiency level and have sufficient spare capacity for peak demand and step-load spikes.

When the utility restarts again, the gensets automatically return to running at the low load spinning reserve.

Spinning reserve diesel generation in conjunction with the grid is quite unique. As health and safety is a critical value for HIMOINSA Southern Africa and Delta Gold, the HIMOINSA solution encompasses aspects that are not typical for standard applications. For example, when generating power in parallel with the grid, it is imperative that there is no chance of back-feed down the line. The SCADA system, plus additional protections, are in place to protect individuals, the mine and the utility from any injury or damage to equipment.

HIMOINSA Southern Africa is providing the 33 kV switchgear critical to integrating the utility supply, the mines transformers and HIMOINSA gensets. As the mine’s power demand grows, there is built-in spare capacity which futureproofs the project by enabling HIMOINSA Southern Africa to easily install additional power supply, be it diesel generators or renewable energy.

HIMOINSA Southern Africa’s involvement goes beyond the project. The company believes that empowering local workers with training and skills transfer is critical to the long-term economic success of the communities. Original-equipment manufacturer training of locally recruited staff is included in the BOOT contract. To support the project, the community and local business, HIMOINSA is also establishing a local entity registered in Zimbabwe.

HIMOINSA Southern Africa is attending, and powering, the 121 Mining Investment Cape Town event on May 9 and 10. This year, the 121 event forms part of the Investing in African Mining Indaba’s networking offering, with the two partnering to deliver “a more streamlined programme”.

The Mining Indaba website states that the 121 event, to be held at the “beautiful” Welgemeend venue, is “just a short shuttle bus ride from the Cape Town International Convention Centre”.