| 42 000 litres of solar heated water for miners at Brakfontein |
| Written by Stephen Forder |
| Wednesday, 02 September 2009 12:31 |
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Miners at Anglo Platinum’s Brakfontein shaft, currently being commissioned in the Limpopo Province, are showering in water heated from the energy of the abundant solar resource that South Africa enjoys rather than that from coal fired power. The industrial change houses at the shaft, where miners shower and change after shifts, boasts one of the largest centralised solar water heating installations to date in South Africa with a capacity of 42 000 litres. According to Dylan Tudor-Jones of Solar Heat Exchangers, the company responsible for the installation, 270 flat plate solar thermal collectors are distributed over 3 separate roofs which were purpose designed to carry the extra load. The solar system pre-feeds a 28 000 litre conventional system with electrical backup. Overall, the solar system is sized to provide hot water needs for a full day, with the backup system being designed to heat the required amount of water between shifts in the event of bad weather. Anglo Platinum announced plans to expand their Lebowa platinum mining operation in 2006, which included the establishment of the Brakfontein shaft. Energy efficiency is a core component of their sustainability agenda and the shaft facilities were specified with solar water heating in the design phase. PG Masondo, Section Engineer at the Brakfontein shaft, says that the facility can accommodate approximately 1 500 miners and officials concurrently, split between each of the 3 change houses. According Masondo, end users of the facility perceive “no difference” in the quality of the hot water energy service and the fact that it is provided from renewable energy is of little consequence to them. “The real benefits for the shaft lie in the significant cost savings”, says Masondo. The use of solar energy to heat the hot water required is estimated to reduce the shaft’s energy requirement by approximately 421.54 mWh (Megawatt-hours) per annum. In addition to cost savings, this results in GHG (Green House Gas) Emission savings of 446.83 tons per annum. The use of solar water heating at Brakfontein falls in line with Anglo Platinum’s broader sustainability strategy. “We have a comprehensive energy efficiency program whereby we are continually assessing ways of reducing our usage of electricity” says Stephen Bullock, Sustainability Manager for Anglo Platinum. “Anglo Platinum has publicly committed to reducing its energy consumption per unit of production by 15% of the 2004 baseline year by 2014. In addition Anglo Platinum has also committed to reducing their carbon dioxide emissions by 10% per unit of production by end 2014. This solar energy project is one of the projects that will help us achieve these targets and if successful this type of technology will most certainly be rolled out to other facilities and operations in the Group” says Bullock. Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge them
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