The Hydra consortium, made up of Engie, Mining3, Antofagasta Minerals, Mitsui & Co., Thiess, Ballard Power Systems, Hexagon Purus, Reborn Electric Motors, and Liebherr Mining, presented the prototype that was built with the support of Corfo and Csiro Chile, to replace the traditional diesel engine with a system powered by fuel cells that work with green hydrogen and batteries in a new milestone for the decarbonization of the mining sector
The occasion took place in Rancagua, where Reborn Electric Motors, the company in charge of the prototype’s construction, maintains its headquarters. Max Correa, Director of the Ministry of Energy’s Fuels and New Energies Division; Pedro Pablo Ogaz, Seremi of Energy; Felix Ortiz, Seremi of Economy; Alfonso Domeyko, Director of Sernageomin; Roco Fonseca, Executive Director of Innova Chile – Corfo; representatives of H2 Chile, among others.
“I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard on this initiative. We’ve always known that in order to move forward, we’d need to form a consortium and bring firms together for a single goal. Mining plays a key part in the battle against climate change, not only by supplying crucial minerals for the energy transition but also by speeding up the deployment of solutions like this one, which uses green hydrogen to power large-scale mining vehicles. As a result, this project comes at an opportune time,” said Max Correa, director of the Ministry of Energy’s Fuels and New Energies Division.
“Corfo has been working on sustainable mining and renewable energy for some years. And, of course, fostering the growth of the green hydrogen sector is a top priority for us. In that sense, this project is symbolic, because it shows how collaboration between different actors, such as large companies, small businesses, and startups, can generate added value, such as the chain to generate green hydrogen and be able to implement it in Chile,” said Roco Fonseca, executive director of Innova Chile, Corfo.
The Business Case is now being technical validated for this project. The prototype, which includes a Ballard FCmoveTM-HD fuel cell, a Hexagon Purus type IV H2 storage system, and a 140 kWh electric storage battery, will be validated.
“Hydrogen has many challenges,” Luis Marn, technology leader at Mining3 and director of the Hydra project, said. “It is a technology that is new in mining applications, so our role is to be able to see what the impact would be on the entire mining operation and evaluate how it would affect the mine’s productivity.” We have models that allow us to simulate and identify where the possible bottlenecks in the implementation of this new technology would be, as well as where the difficulties and possibilities might be. Today, we want to show the progress we’ve achieved, which we feel is significant because this is the first initiative of its sort on a national scale.”
“We are dedicated to speeding the transition to a carbon-neutral economy with a set of solutions for the future,” said Axel Leveque, CEO of Engie Chile. And therein is the advantage of joining the Hydra consortium and collaborating with the world’s leading mining and hydrogen firms. We will be able to make the use of hydrogen in mining a reality thanks to this robust partnership that stimulates the exchange of information and experience.”
Manufacturing is now complete, and testing to show its performance at height and in high-dust environments will commence over the next few months at Antofagasta Minerals’ Minera Centinela. The test findings and analysis will be used to improve the overall design that might eventually replace the old diesel propulsion system, with the full-scale Pilot Phase, which corresponds to the conversion of a mining truck weighing more than 200 tons, to follow.
