Performance analysis and socio-enviro-economic feasibility study of a newhybrid energy system-based decarbonization approach for coal mine sites

The mining sector contributes to 4-7 % of global GHG emissions, of which 1 % are from scope 1 and scope 2 emissions,caused by operations such as electricity consumption used for the mining process. China heavily relies on coal for powergeneration, and the energy demand for coal production in the country is primarily met by fossil-based electricity. In addi-tion, the transportation of the mined coal to various destinations within the supply chain is achieved by fossil fuel-poweredtransport systems. These daily activities of the Chinese coal sector further compound foreign and domestic pressure onChina to limit its carbon emissions. The current study attempts to provide a solution to the situation by investigating thefeasibility of adopting renewable energy sources for the process of coal mining in Northern China. The selected coalmine is one out of 643 coal mines in Shanxi Province, with a combined production capacity of similar to 1 billion tonnes of coalper annum. In addition, the excess electricity generated has been designated to produce hydrogen on-site as a refuelingsource for hydrogen fuelled-trucks to replace diesel fuelled-trucks in transporting coal. The analysis has been completedusing HOMER Pro software, and the key contributions are summarized as follows. 4 different scenarios comprising ofstandalone solar photovoltaic, wind turbine, and diesel generator have been designed in the current study to serve adailyloadof215MWhand2.4tofelectricityforcoalminingandhydrogenfortransportof100%oftheminedcoalbyroad using hydrogen fuel cell trucks, respectively. A technical, economic, environmental, and social feasibility analysishave been investigated in the present work. A grid-tied system is subsequently added to the base scenario and the resultsarecomparedagainstthebasesysteminanattempttoidentifythemorefeasibleoptionbetweenthetwosystems.Also sensitivity analysis has been conducted to reveal the performance of the base system amidst future uncertainties. Thefind-ings in the current work could prove beneficial to China's quest to reach carbon peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Automated summary

The mining sector contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions, and China's coal industry is a major contributor. This study investigates the feasibility of adopting renewable energy sources for coal mining in Northern China.