Temporary power supply scheme for mine construction

When mines shift from exploration to construction, and from old mining areas to new pit mouths, the first thing started on site is often not the complete production line, but roads, drainage, camps, lighting, maintenance points, drilling rigs, welding machines and construction equipment. These loads appear to be scattered, but they all affect the construction progress.

If the construction power supply is only regarded as temporary power supply, it is easy for the site to re-borrow units, pull cables, and change power distribution every time a stage is advanced. It seems to be trouble-free in the early stage, but in the installation, commissioning and trial production stages, the power supply relationship is more difficult to clarify.

The biggest fear of mine owners, expansion leaders and EPC contractors is that the equipment has arrived, but hoisting, welding, pumping stations, lighting and temporary processing lines cannot be started at the same time. On-site personnel can only temporarily stop part of the load, or move the units and cables back and forth.

This problem is not just the lack of a generator, but the lack of a phased power supply plan. If the construction period, installation and commissioning, trial production and subsequent expansion are not looked at together, temporary power supply will become on-site coordination costs.

Without reliable temporary power supply, civil construction, drainage, roads, campsites and maintenance points will compete for power from each other. As soon as welders, drilling rigs and pumping stations start up, lighting, tools or temporary processing lines may be forced to lose power, repeatedly interrupting the pace of construction.

Greater losses occurred later. There are no interfaces reserved for trial production and capacity expansion during power supply during construction. When new loads are added, wiring must be changed, cabinets must be added, and unit positions must be adjusted. On-site costs are high, and the division of responsibilities is easily confused.

Divide the construction period, installation and commissioning, trial production and subsequent expansion into several stages, and list the loads that must be protected first in each stage. Campsites, roads, drainage, lighting, maintenance points, pumping stations, drill rigs, welders and temporary treatment lines are prioritized.

Configuration usually requires mobile or containerized units, temporary power distribution cabinets, low-voltage output protection, cable path planning, daily fuel tanks and oil replenishment channels. The focus is not on building large generating capacity at once, but on allowing the system to expand as the site progresses.

The first step is to sort out the loads according to the general construction plane and project nodes: which loads will be started now, which loads will be started after installation and debugging, and which loads will enter continuous operation only after trial production.

The second step is to confirm the unit placement, moving path, temporary distribution cabinet location and cable routing to avoid conflicts with subsequent roads, hoisting, drainage ditches, oil truck channels and construction vehicles.

The third step is to reserve parallel control, power distribution capacity and cable interfaces for subsequent expansion. In this way, the temporary power supply can be transferred from the construction period to trial production, instead of tearing down and reconfiguring each stage.

The goal after planning is for the construction camps, roads, drainage, lighting, maintenance points and construction equipment to operate stably first. New equipment can be connected according to priority during installation and commissioning. There is no need to reorganize all power supply relationships during the trial production stage.

What the mining team and the EPC contractor received was not just a temporary unit, but an executable on-site power supply plan: which loads should be maintained in the current stage, where to expand the capacity in the next stage, and how the fuel tanks and cables will advance with the construction.