Hitachi energy provides solar microgrid power supply for Nevada vanadium mining enterprises
Recently, Hitachi energy began to cooperate with Nevada vanadium
industry in the United States to provide 100% renewable energy for the
first primary vanadium mine in the history of the United States.
Nevada
vacuum Mining Corp is building a gibellini open pit vanadium mine in
the battle mountain area in the western United States.
The company expects the facility to be operational in 2024.
According to the PEA provided by Wood Group
a consulting firm entrusted by Nevada vacuum, this means that it will
take two and a half years for the US $147million capital expenditure
required to start construction to recover the investment.
Vanadium is
used as an additive in construction steel. A small amount of vanadium
can make steel stronger, thus reducing the weight, volume and carbon
footprint of steel used in the industry.
It also has industrial
applications in national defense, aerospace and other fields. Of course,
it is also used as an electrolyte in all vanadium flow energy storage
batteries. Although the energy storage field is still marginal
consumption for the time being, it is expected to increase significantly
in the next few years.
A recent report predicts that global vanadium production may double by 2031 to meet the demand of energy storage.
At
present, there are only three primary vanadium producers in the world,
namely Largo sources mining vanadium in Brazil, bushveld minerals mining
vanadium in South Africa and Glencore mining vanadium in South Africa.
Both Largo and bushveld have started to set foot in the field of all
vanadium flow batteries and established subsidiaries focusing on energy
storage.
However, these producers account for only 15-25% of vanadium
used in industry. The vast majority of vanadium comes from secondary
producers in Brazil and China. Vanadium is extracted as a by-product of
steel manufacturing.
Vanadium resources in other places are also
being continuously developed, especially in Australia, where the
invention of all vanadium flow battery is located.
Nevada vanadium mine will use 100% renewable energy
Nevada
vanadium currently says that Hitachi energy has been selected to
develop renewable energy for gibellini to make electricity
self-sufficient and reliable around the clock.
Hitachi energy will
negotiate with the mining company on the needs of the site. Nevada
vanadium believes that the site can be powered by the microgrid running
on {solar} and equipped with battery energy storage system (BESS)
technology to ensure the continuity of operation.