📋 Case Study

Australian Iron Ore Underground Microgrid Deployment

No viable grid connection; diesel dependency exceeding 420 L/hr at peak; ventilation fan failure risk during monsoon season

🏗️ Project Overview

Roy Hill Deep Mining Initiative – Pilbara

🎯 Challenge

No viable grid connection; diesel dependency exceeding 420 L/hr at peak; ventilation fan failure risk during monsoon season

🔧 Design Approach

Hybrid microgrid: 3.2 MW solar canopy + 4.5 MWh LiFePO₄ BESS + 2× 2.5 MW bi-fuel generators (gas/diesel) + adaptive load shedding logic

📐 Key Calculations

Solar Canopy Yield

Y = A × G × η × PR

Result: 5.8 GWh/yr

Covers 41% of annual load

BESS Thermal Runaway Threshold

T_crit = f(SOC, ΔT/dt)

Result: 52.3°C

Triggers forced-air cooling activation

📊 Results

Diesel consumption reduced by 58%, ventilation uptime >99.999%, full black-start achieved in <92 sec

💡 Lessons Learned

• •Canopy-mounted solar requires structural reinforcement for seismic loads
• •Bi-fuel flexibility prevented gas supply disruption impact

✅ Key Takeaways

• 1Canopy-mounted solar requires structural reinforcement for seismic loads
• 2Bi-fuel flexibility prevented gas supply disruption impact