Africa Surveyors September- October Digital issue 2021

ENERGY
Re-using depleted mines for energy storage:
thyssenkrupp Uhde South Africa wins study
and signs an agreement with Pumped Hydro
Storage Sweden AB
Thyssenkrupp Uhde Africa together with
Wismut GmbH has been appointed to execute
a pre-feasibility for study for a “Renewable
Underground Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage”
(RUPHES) project on a specific site with a South
African mining company. thyssenkrupp Uhde
South Africa is collaborating with international
specialist companies to facilitate mine repurposing.
Already last year thyssenkrupp Uhde had signed a
cooperation agreement with mining rehabilitation
specialist Wismut GmbH in Germany. The
international cooperation was now recently expanded
by an agreement with Pumped Hydro Storage
Sweden AB.
With the increase in renewable energy generation
there is an increased need for energy storage.
Renewable Underground Pumped Hydroelectric
Energy Storage (RUPHES) in repurposed mines –
coupled with solar and wind power – can reliably
provide green energy when it is needed. Repurposing
of depleted gold mines for RUPHES enables short
construction schedules and significantly reduced
costs. The main reason: Gold mining has already
created the underground water storage reservoirs
that commonly are the mostly costly components of
pumped hydro plants. They just have to be adapted to
their new purpose.
This is exactly what Pumped Hydro
Storage Sweden does. It is part of
the company Sustainable Energy
Solutions and is currently developing
a 2 MW / 8 MWh underground
pumped energy storage project in
an abandoned iron mine in Aland,
Finland. The project has the support
of both the European Commission
and Swedish Energy Agency, and
they are looking to commission the
project in December 2023. This
project demonstrates the reduced
construction schedules and costs
associated with utilizing mine
tunnels for pumped energy storage
as did a similar project at the
Kidston gold mine in Australia.
Well-proven, cost-competitive solution serving a
major trend in Africa. As probably the most mature
energy storage technology currently available,
pumped hydro accounts for 97% of the global storage
capacity. Exceptionally high hydraulic heads and
stable hard rock geology render ultra-deep gold
mines ideal for implementing the concept, and for
producing internationally cost-competitive, reliable
green electricity as well as green hydrogen and green
ammonia. Just for comparison: In June 2021, a South
African gold mining company announced that they
are able to produce electricity from solar power at
USD 1.1c/kWh. This pricing is nearly on par with
the best international solar pricing USD 1.04c/kWh,
achieved in competitive bidding in Saudi Arabia. The
fact that South Africa has world-class solar and wind
resources is gaining traction in both government and
industry, and the fact that it is cheaper to provide
electricity from South African renewables than it is to
provide power by importing foreign gas.
Getech Releases Heat Seeker – a New Paradigm for Geothermal
Energy Exploration
Getech, a provider of geoscience data,
knowledge, and software to the energy and
strategic minerals industries, has released
its unique HeatSeeker solution in response to the
fast-developing geothermal energy market.
Geothermal, which is increasingly recognised for
its future role in the transition to a net-zero world,
offers a massive resource of sustainable low-carbon
baseload energy. Countries around the world have
set their targets for a net-zero future and creating
energy from geothermal sources will make vital
contributions to meeting them.
But how will those in charge of low-carbon strategies
be able to assess geothermal potential and then
develop this important source of carbon-free clean
energy? Getech developed Heat Seeker to meet
that challenge.
By providing an integrated solution for geothermal
energy favourability analysis and site selection,
Heat Seeker enables companies and governments
to appraise the technical potential for geothermal
energy on a regional scale and gain a deeper
understanding of the localised market economics
that drive the viability of the resources.
Chief Operating Officer for Getech, Chris Jepps,
explains how his company’s new solution will
benefit organisations working within this emerging
marketplace: “Heat Seeker is built on the solid
foundations of Getech’s market-leading gravity and
magnetic data holdings, and our understanding of
sub-surface heat conditions and geological structure.
Heat Seeker integrates geological factors, heat flow,
temperature, tectonism, structure, geothermal system
type with commercial analysis of market dynamics;
including power grid and power plant distributions,
heat demand maps, and the location of customers.
Competition from other clean energy sources is also
taken into account.
“When these key components are enhanced with
machine learning and combined with advanced
geospatial analytics of the market for any produced
resource, the results are a solution that enables
organisations to rapidly identify sweet spots
for geothermal energy across a region – be it
international, regional or local. Gaining such early
project focus saves time, increases profit-margins,
and ultimately reduces payback times in geothermal
projects.”
Executive Director of The International Geothermal
Association (IGA), Marit Brommer, commented: “Heat
Seeker is a unique product in the geothermal sector.
I’m convinced it will help organisations across the
globe with the sweet-spotting of new geothermal
energy sites based on subsurface and above-ground
information.
12 September-October issue l 2021 www.africasurveyorsonline.com