Monitoring of the mining waste neutralization facility of LW Bogdanka

Abstract

Investing in renewable energy sources bringing direct profits from unattractive areas is one of the most advantageous ways of wastelands revitalization. In the case of post-mining dumps, it is realized by using photovoltaics and wind turbines. Analyzes showed that the greatest benefits can be acquired from photovoltaic farms, mainly due to the simplicity of their design and principles of operation, as well as the quick return on investment - up to 7 years. The construction of wind turbines is more complicated. Despite the favorable conditions of the mining dumps (elevated areas, which are located mainly away from residential buildings), the construction of the turbine requires more effort in designing and installation work, mainly due to the necessity of building the foundations. Methods for revitalizing mine dumps by installing renewable energy systems have some limitations due to periodicity of operation (time of day, season), weather conditions (wind speed, temperature), expensive energy storage, etc. For this reason, real-time monitoring of climatic conditions is required. The following parameters are monitored: the average available solar energy (important for the assessment of the efficiency of photovoltaic cells), speed and direction of the wind (which affects the efficiency of wind turbines), changes in groundwater level (risk of flooding and periodic soil softening), soil and air temperature (air – affects the choice of the method of revitalization, soil – affects the preservation of soil) and dust concentration, which affects the degree of contamination of the photovoltaic modules and thus the efficiency of the photovoltaic (PV) power plant. The presentation includes interesting data that was obtained during the tests.