Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has contracted energy storage systems provider Primus Power to supply its Amandelbult mine, in Limpopo, with eight EnergyPod battery systems.
The EnergyPods will provide Amandelbult with 200 kW of power and 1 000 kWh of energy.
These batteries are charged when demand for, and the cost of, grid electricity is low. During times of peak, high-cost electricity, the charged batteries release stored energy and reduce the mine’s draw from the national grid.
“EnergyPods will allow Amandelbult to realise an immediate monthly reduction in electricity costs and an improvement in energy security.
“Moreover, this project will also lay the groundwork to define future local South African manufacturing and assembly opportunities for the technology,” Amplats platinum group metals investment programme CEO Andrew Hinkly said in a statement last week.
The project complements recent support received from the US Trade and Development Agency to demonstrate EnergyPod’s performance, reliability and durability at State-owned Eskom.
Amplats, Primus and Johannesburg’s SolAfrica are cooperating closely on the testing of four EnergyPods at Eskom’s large-scale energy storage test facility in Rosherville, Johannesburg.
“South Africa represents an important growth area for Primus,” CEO Tom Stepien said.