Industry
Mining
Hybrid solar-storage-diesel systems for remote mining operations.
Problem
Why this matters.
Mining sites burn expensive diesel and need clean continuous power. Hybrid storage cuts fuel and improves resilience.
Remote hard-rock and open-pit mines run 24/7 on diesel microgrids: crushers, ball mills, ventilation fans, and dewatering pumps form a heavy continuous base, punctuated by severe motor inrush. Delivered diesel — with its logistics premium at altitude and distance — is the single largest controllable operating cost, and N+1 gensets burn fuel idling as spinning reserve. A grid-forming battery lets gensets run at a proper 75–85% load factor instead of oversized-and-underloaded; solar at high-DNI sites (Atacama-class copper regions, the Brazilian interior) displaces daytime burn.
Navvion Approach
How we deliver results.
Architecture
How the system fits together.
PV, battery, and the existing diesel plant share an off-grid bus under one controller. The battery grid-forms, PV serves the day, and generators dispatch as reserve at proper load factor instead of idling as spinning reserve.
Simplified one-line diagram. Final architecture is engineered per site.
Products Used
Navvion systems for this solution.
Navvion Omega hybrid systems coordinate PV and diesel natively for satellite sites; a ~2 MWh Navvion Zeta anchors the main camp bus with rugged, sealed reliability in harsh climates.
- Sizing
- Field service
- Remote support
Economics
What the payback looks like.
| Basis | Illustrative modeled scenario — not a quote |
| Battery block | 2,057 kWh containerized system |
| Installed cost | $380 / kWh |
| Diesel vs. stored-solar spread | $0.20 / kWh |
| Utilization | 1.2 cycles/day |
| Installed cost | $781,700 |
| Fuel-displacement savings | $180,200 / yr |
| Simple payback | ≈ 4.3 years |
| 20-year net return | $2.82M |
Illustrative scenario using the default assumptions from our ROI calculator. We model real savings against your actual tariff and load profile.
Run your numbersFAQ
Common questions.
How much diesel can a hybrid actually displace?
Solar-heavy hybrids typically displace daytime burn and cut generator idle hours; the audited number comes from your generator logs and PV potential, not a rule of thumb.
What happens when a crusher starts and PV dips at once?
The battery absorbs the inrush and the transient; generators only start if the sustained load requires it. That is the point of a grid-forming battery.
How is service handled at a remote site?
Remote monitoring through Navvion APM plus a field-service contract with defined response — spare strategy is designed around your logistics constraints.
More Solutions
Explore related applications.
Let's model your project.
Send your load profile through the intake form and we'll respond with a sizing analysis.
What we need to start.
- Generator data
- PV potential
- Logistics constraints