Background
Mining remains a crucial pillar for many economies across the mineral-rich continent of Africa. This is particularly true for Tanzania, where the mining sector remains one of the major contributors to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), providing 10.1% to the national GDP in 20241. This surpassed the government’s target of 10% for the fiscal year 2025/26.
However, the industry is beset by several challenges across the continent, including the ongoing energy crisis. Limited access to electricity in Tanzania, particularly within underserved rural areas, as well as power quality and grid reliability, continues to inhibit productivity and global competitiveness.
Results
To help address these challenges at site level, a Vertiv™ EnergyCore Grid battery energy storage system (BESS) has been installed at Barrick Mining’s North Mara gold mine, supporting the stability of the essential power supply that maintains critical equipment across the site. Key benefits include:
- Enhanced power stability and operational continuity;
- Improving equipment protection through better voltage and frequency stability;
- Mitigating grid disturbances by rapidly responding to faults within 46 milliseconds;
- Supporting continuous operations even during grid instability helping maintain production and reduce downtime;
- The elimination of unnecessary generator use for voltage support;
- Seamless transition during grid disturbances; and
- Reductions in diesel use and generator runtime, contributing to improved operational efficiency.
| Case Summary | |
|---|---|
| Location: |
Mara region, Tanzania |
| Critical Need: |
The North Mara mine site is located around 400km away from its power source, making it part of a vulnerable transmission network and creating significant power quality issues due to harmonic distortion along the transmission lines. |
| Vertiv Solution: |
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