Africa Surveyors September- October Digital issue 2021

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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
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Page 1 and 2: September - October issue 2021 Volu
Page 3 and 4: Contents CONTENTS Current Issue BIM
Page 5 and 6: Trueman Goba named honorary fellow
Page 7 and 8: INTERNATIONAL FIXAR enters the Indi
Page 9 and 10: The intersection of geospatial the
Page 11: INNOVATION Trimble Civil Constructi
Page 15 and 16: OPINION national agenda and help de
Page 17 and 18: CADASTRAL SURVEY What are Land Owne
Page 19 and 20: DRONES Percepto launches drone with
Page 21 and 22: BIM FOR CONSTRUCTION collaboration
Page 23 and 24: INFRASTRUCTURE www.africasurveyorso
Page 25 and 26: ENGINEERING Additionally, the entir
Page 27 and 28: AWARDS which has shown excellence i
Page 29 and 30: Subsurface Locators Subsurface Loca
Page 31 and 32: MINING Proterra and Komatsu announc
Page 33 and 34: CONSTRUCTION Construction Project M
Page 35 and 36: ENERGY Africa Ren launches the cons
Page 37 and 38: AZURI TOWERS - NIGERIA Azuri Towers
Page 39 and 40: When the project matters SAFETY DUR

Africa Surveyors September- October Digital issue 2021

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