Project Overview

• Client: An aluminum company in Guinea, West Africa
• Location: Madina Aluminum Mine Camp, Guinea
• Challenges: The mining area lacks utility power, construction land is limited, extreme weather conditions must be accommodated, and there is the possibility of future relocation.
• Solution: Deploy a modular, rapidly scalable 1MW folding container off-grid photovoltaic system with 2MWh of energy storage.
• Benefits: Provides stable and reliable clean electricity to the mining camp, completely replacing diesel generators and significantly reducing electricity costs and maintenance complexity.

Project Background

The Madina region of Guinea boasts excellent sunlight resources, with an annual horizontal total radiation exceeding 2,000 kWh/m², making it one of the richest solar regions. However, traditional fixed photovoltaic power plants require large land areas and lengthy construction periods, making them unsuitable for the needs of the mining camp. Highjoule’s foldable solar container solution, with its core advantages of “plug-and-play” and flexible deployment, was the perfect choice for this project.

System Configuration

Why choose Highjoule’s foldable solar container?

1. Rapid Deployment and Space Savings
   The five container systems used in the project can be installed and commissioned in a very short time, reducing construction time by over 50%. The system features a compact layout, requiring only two or three rows, significantly conserving limited campsite land resources and perfectly adapting to the mining environment.
2. Excellent Stability and Safety
   The container body adopts C4 advanced corrosion resistance, effectively resisting the harsh mining atmosphere. The unique foldable design allows for quick evacuation before extreme weather such as tropical storms or sandstorms, ensuring the safety of the core power generation equipment. Its wind resistance far exceeds that of traditional fixed mounting systems.
3. Significantly Reduced Operation and Maintenance Costs
   The highly integrated and maintenance-free design eliminates vulnerable components such as traditional tracking mounting systems, reducing failure rates by over 50%. The photovoltaic panels can be centrally cleaned while folded, saving over 40% in labor costs and bringing the average annual operation and maintenance costs to only 30%-50% of those of traditional power plants.
4. Excellent Return on Investment (ROI)
   Despite the slightly higher initial investment, the system’s high power generation efficiency, combined with the savings in land and fuel costs, significantly shortens the project’s payback period to less than one year. The system’s modular expansion capabilities facilitate seamless upgrades to meet future power capacity expansion needs at the camp.

Conclusion

Highjoule’s 1MW integrated photovoltaic and storage project for the Madina aluminum mining camp in Guinea is a successful example of the application of mobile, containerized photovoltaic power plants in the mining industry. It not only solves the core electricity problem in areas without electricity, but also provides customers with sustainable economic and environmental benefits through ultra-low operation and maintenance costs and a rapid return on investment. It is an ideal choice for off-grid and microgrid applications.