Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 31 2021

AsiaElec NEWS IN BRIEF AsiaElec

EMISSIONS to realising a carbon-neutral society. SOL AR
NGK Insulators (NGK) is a leading
NGK Introduces carbon- company in the field of ceramics. Since its Gold Fields eyes
foundation in 1919, NGK has used its unique
neutral city gas to reduce ceramic technology to provide numerous renewables at St Ives
ground-breaking products that solve social
CO2 emissions issues. Today, NGK is active in more than Gold miner Gold Fields is looking at
electrification options for its St Ives gold
20 countries worldwide, with business foci
NGK Insulators has decided to introduce including mobility, energy, IT and industry. project, in Western Australia, to incorporate
carbon-neutral city gas supplied by TOHO NGK INSULATORS renewable energy, Mining Weekly said in a
GAS Co., Ltd. The NGK Group will start report carried on the Gold Fields website.
using it at four major production bases Gold Fields executive VP for Australia
in Aichi Prefecture in August 2021. This WIND Stuart Mathews told delegates at the Diggers
transition to carbon-neutral city gas will help & Dealers conference that the company was
reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by Siemens Gamesa’s looking to build on the $110mn already
approximately 30,000 tons annually. invested in renewable energy and battery
Carbon-neutral city gas uses carbon- completes first nacelle in storage at its Australian mines to date.
neutral liquified natural gas (LNG), which “For the future, we believe we should be
offsets (through carbon offset) the CO2 Taiwan electrified, and we are weaning ourselves off
generated in the process from excavation of diesel. Gas will be a transitional fuel, and most
natural gas to combustion with CO2 credit. Siemens Gamesa’s offshore wind nacelle governments have started to realise this, but
This will mark TOHO GAS’s first supply and assembly facility in Taichung, Taiwan has we have the option to diversify our energy
our initial introduction of carbon-neutral city assembled its first nacelle. sources between gas and solar,” Mathews said.
gas. This marks the first time a Siemens Gold Fields has spent $70-million
Starting in August 2021, carbon-neutral Gamesa offshore turbine nacelle has been on a hybrid renewable energy grid at its
city gas will replace all city gas used at the assembled outside Europe. The construction Agnew operation, which comprises four
factories and office buildings of four NGK work on Siemens Gamesa’s assembly facility in key components controlled by an advanced
bases: Nagoya Site (Nagoya), Chita Site Taichung Harbor started in March 2020. microgrid system, including five wind
(Handa, Aichi), Komaki Site (Komaki, Aichi) The parcel of land being developed in turbines delivering an 18 MW wind farm, a 10
and the headquarters of Group company Taiwan measures over 30,000 square metres 710 panel 4 MW solar farm and a 13 MW/4
NGK CERAMIC DEVICE CO., LTD. and will support Ørsted’s 900 MW Greater MWh battery energy storage system (BESS)
(Komaki, Aichi). The fuel in the gas kiln Changhua 1 & 2a project, where SG 8.0-167 and an off-grid 12 MW gas/diesel engine
used in the firing of products will also be DD turbines will be used, Siemens Gamesa power plant.
replaced with carbon-neutral city gas, thereby said. At Granny Smith, Gold Fields spent
achieving a significant reduction in CO2 The Greater Changhua 1 & 2a wind farm $17-million on a hybrid power system, which
emissions. A total reduction of approximately will comprise 111 SG 8.0-167 DD wind has been integrated with an existing gas-fired
105,000 tons are projected over a contract turbines installed on jacket foundations in the power station. The hybrid power system is
period of approximately 3 years. Taiwan Strait, some 35 to 50 kilometres off the powered by more than 20 000 solar panels and
In the NGK Group Environmental Vision coast of Changhua County. supported by a 2 MW/1 MWh battery system.
formulated in April 2021, the NGK Group The offshore construction at the Greater The solar, thermal and battery storage
set a goal to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions Changhua 1 and 2a sites will be carried assets will produce around 18 GWh of energy
by 2050. In addition to this carbon-neutral out during 2021 and 2022, with the project every year, with carbon emissions at the mine
city gas procurement initiative, NGK has also expected to be fully up and running in 2022. expected to be reduced by approximately 9
begun development of technology that will The wind turbine installation is slated for 500 t of carbon dioxide-equivalent, and once
use clean energy that does not emit CO2, such 2022. fully operational, will reduce the mine’s fuel
as hydrogen and ammonia, to manufacture consumption by 10% to 13%.
ceramics. By adopting clean energy, NGK will The company would also spend
strive to reduce CO2 emissions and contribute $23-million at the Gruyere joint venture to
install a renewable energy hybrid microgrid
at the gold mine, increasing the mine’s power
capacity by 45% to enable plant throughput to
reach 10-million tonnes a year.
In the first phase of works, APA will
expand the Gruyere power station with the
installation of a twelfth reciprocating gas-
fired engine. Work is currently underway
on this expansion, which is expected to be
commissioned in mid-2021.
In the second phase, infrastructure energy
provider APA will build, own and operate a 13
MWp solar farm backed-up by a 4.4 MW/4.4
MWh BESS. APA’s microgrid will use a hybrid
control system that combines cloud and
weather forecasting, battery control and the
existing reciprocating engine control systems

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