Driving past the Mandalong Mine you’d never guess that the entire site runs on its own power, powered by the Mandalong Power Station which turns waste coal mine gas into electricity.
Commissioned in September 2023, the Mandalong Power Station was developed in partnership with energy company EDL and the mine’s owner Centennial. The 8-megawatt power station converts waste gas extracted during mining operations into electricity to power the coal mine.
Since it started operating, the power station has prevented almost 150,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions from entering the atmosphere, reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions, saved $3.5 million, and exported over 5.6 million kilowatts of electricity to the local grid.
Jonathon Gray, Mandalong’s Surface Services Engineering Coordinator said what they’re doing is incredibly valuable.
“We’re taking what is otherwise a waste product from the mining process, the methane gas we’re drawing out of the mine, and turning it into a valuable on-site energy resource that powers both our underground and surface operations – delivering significant benefits.
“It’s a lot of work liaising between the mine and EDL, but it’s been a fantastic learning experience for both parties. It’s basically two different industries working closely together and there’s so much knowledge and experience that has been exchanged both ways.
“The best part about it is what is generally a waste byproduct of our process to mine coal that must be extracted for safety reasons, and what would otherwise be sent into the atmosphere with no benefit at all can now be turned into electricity and massively offset our carbon footprint,” Jonathon explained.
The Mandalong Power Station isn’t the only waste coal mine gas (WCMG) powered station EDL operates; they have a large portfolio globally.
EDL’s NSW WCMG Operations Supervisor James Taylor is a big part of the unique partnership with Centennial.
“EDL is focused on sustainable distributed energy while Centennial’s expertise lies in mining, which makes our operations highly complementary. We work well together and have developed a strong and collaborative relationship.
“By converting the methane gas we extract during the process of mining to generate electricity to meet the mine’s energy needs, we’re providing a practical and cost-effective arrangement that also reduces our emissions.
“We supply the majority of the Mandalong Mine and when we generate more than what the mine demands, the excess energy gets distributed across the grid for the wider community,” James said.
Decarbonisation is a big part of Centennial’s mining operations and it’s something their Gas and Decarbonisation Manager Kathryn Ryan is very passionate about.
She started out her career in mining as a geologist and has ended up working in the decarbonisation space.
“I really wanted to move into the decarb space; it’s my real passion. Quantifying emissions and doing our best to reduce them where possible. These days it is critical, it’s not optional. It has to be embedded into the way we do business.
“At Mandalong we implemented gas drainage and flaring successfully for a number of years and then in 2023 we turned on the power station. The Mandalong team have been instrumental in making sure the station has been a successful project. If you don’t get buy in from the employees and get them passionate about it, it wouldn’t even get off the ground. Having EDL partner with us in that has been great, they have a proven track record in this space,” Kathryn said.
She added that there is a huge focus on reducing emissions industry-wide these days, which is critical.
“There’s a lot that can be done with education among our employees on site about what is achievable. We’re an industry that hasn’t always had these things at its forefront.
“The future of mining is embracing a low carbon way of doing things but we also need to maintain these critical assets. The NSW power grid is still largely based on coal-fired power and Centennial provides a low sulfur coal that is utilised for energy production so we are a key part of the NSW transition.
“We are seeing constant improvement every year and trying to do what we can, where we can, in the most efficient, safe and effective way possible.”
