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Abstract Communities situated in distant areas are deemed as 'remote' and have either very limited or no access to power grid lines. Therefore, most of these communities greatly depend on diesel-burning for power and heat provision at all times. Nonetheless, nearly 30% of the energy associated with the diesel burning and power generation process is dissipated as heat through the exhaust streams of diesel generators. The waste heat in the exhaust stream is usually recovered during the winter season and directly used as a heat source when the communal heat demand is peaked. However, recovery of this energy potential is usually discarded during the summer period due to the low demand. Seasonal thermal storage on rock piles is a developing concept that can be a low-cost solution to resolve this issue. This paper proposes utilization of the heat wasted through the exhaust stream of diesel generators on rock piles as temporary storage during low demand times. In this sense, a remote cold climate community, such as those of Canada and Norway, is selected and potentiality of the seasonal rock pile thermal storage is investigated and presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Global inclination towards renewable energy projects, facilitates deployment of alternative energy systems in various scales. However, due to the noise in usable energy generation and fluctuations in the source availability, battery units are deemed as an integral part of any mini-grid energy generation system. Although, sharp turns in battery prices have taken place over the last few years, batteries are still one of the largest capital components of such systems. On the other hand, like many other heavy industries, mining industry is also closely interested in renewable energy generation on site because of certain environmental and financial reasons. Nonetheless, the size of feasible energy generation and attached storage units are still forcing mining companies to reconsider. In this regard, renewable energy based coolth storage systems can help mining companies to enhance the financial outcomes of mine air-conditioning projects where heavy refrigeration is demanded. This paper promotes power generation via renewable energy systems and proposes coolth/energy storage by analyzing two options. The financial impact of substituting battery storage units and downsizing the refrigeration plant size by storing the peak demand as coolth was also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Increasing depth and complexity of recently discovered orebodies are forcing mining companies to deploy highly energy-intensive and technologically challenged mining projects. These challenges usually result in higher energy demands along with heavier draw on infrastructure, power and capital/operating costs. If not tackled innovatively, these challenges can turn into financial liability. Deep underground mine air conditioning systems require elevated energy demands and capital costs especially in deeper mining operations where heat impact of auto-compression, strata and mine machinery necessitate deployment of massive cooling plants costing millions of dollars of initial investment. An alternative solution can be sought by discarding mine heat into a lake/river, should such well-sized and low-temperature body of water be available at the vicinity of the mine site. This study investigates the feasibility of implementation of a lake geothermal cooling system in a real-life anonymous Canadian mine. It shows that significant capital cost savings can be achieved by employing a surface water system, rather than a conventional cooling plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subsurface mining operations are continuously getting deeper and more complex due to depletion of shallow deposits. This fact inevitably brings more expensive, high-tech oriented and most importantly energy intensive subsurface mining operations to come alive. Accordingly, while big mining companies are developing sensible extraction methods to exploit orebodies located at great depths, they are also seeking to cut down their costs and carbon footprint. A large percentage of the energy needed by a subsurface mine is due to the mine ventilation and air conditioning reasons. In fact, for mines deeper than 2 km, mine air conditioning becomes a must. Yet, as there are not many alternatives developed, most of the modern mines are subjected to deploy tens of megawatts worth of cooling plants using massive refrigeration units. This does not only create a large financial burden during the project stage but also results in heavy energy demands during the operation. This paper aims to investigate a natural, alternative deep-mine lake cooling system by providing a detailed 'front-end-loading' design conducted for a real-life, Canadian example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]