Forrest pursues gravity-charged
electric train to shift his iron ore
By
Peter Milne
March 1, 2022
Fortescue chair
Andrew Forrest has tasked the miner’s recently purchased Williams
Advanced Engineering with developing electric trains that never need
external charging to shift its iron ore to port.
Dr Forrest said on Tuesday that the
so-called ‘Infinity Train’ would help Fortescue reach its goal of
net-zero emissions by 2030.
Each Fortescue train carries up to 34,000
tonnes of iron ore to port on a route that is mostly downhill.
WAE will investigate replacing the current
diesel-powered fleet with electric trains that generate more energy
than they need on the heavily laden downhill run, and store it in
batteries to drive the empty train back to the mine.
The concept has similarities to
regenerative braking on electric vehicles that slows the car by
using the electric motors as generators to charge the battery.
Fortescue chief executive Elizabeth
Gaines said the Infinity Train could become the world’s most efficient
battery-electric locomotive.
“The regeneration of electricity on the
downhill loaded sections will remove the need for the installation of
renewable energy generation and recharging infrastructure, making it a
capital-efficient solution for eliminating diesel and emissions from
our rail operations,” she said.
Fortescue will spend about $US50 million
($69 million) over the next two years to develop the technology.
The main prize is the elimination of the
82 million litres of diesel Fortescue burnt last financial year in
its trains, contributing about 11 per cent of its direct, or scope
1, emissions. The system is also expected to have lower maintenance
costs.Fortescue currently has 54
diesel-electric locomotives that haul 16 2.8 kilometre-long train
sets with 244 cars carrying 34,000 tonnes of ore each trip.
Fortescue
purchased UK-based Williams Advanced Engineering, an offshoot of
the Williams Formula One racing team, in January for £164 million
($303 million).
Dr Forrest said Fortescue could benefit
from selling the technology globally, as well as using it in its
Pilbara operations.
“Today’s announcement will also help
reverse the British brain drain, retaining brilliant British
engineers working here in the UK and contributing to the local
economy,” he said.
“The world must, and clearly can, move on
from its highly polluting, deadly if not stopped, epoch of fossil
fuel.”
Fortescue’s initiative is the most
ambitious move of Pilbara’s iron ore miners’ efforts to decarbonise
their rail operations.
Rio Tinto, Australia’s largest iron ore
miner, bought four battery-electric trails in January 2022. The
prototypes from US company Wabtec will begin trials in the Pilbara in
early 2024.
In the same month BHP also announced the
purchase of four battery-electric locomotives – two from Wabtec and
two from Caterpillar subsidiary Progress Rail – to trial ahead of
BHP’s planned full electrification of its 180-strong fleet.
Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
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