Today, shouldering the mission entrusted by The Times, more and more Chinese enterprises have embarked on the road of accelerating the pace of internationalization and expanding overseas markets. These Chinese enterprises sailing to the sea, continue to open up new areas in the global energy, mining, infrastructure, equipment manufacturing and other important market areas, in efforts to achieve their own strategic goals of globalization, but also let China’s increasingly significant influence bloom to the four continents.

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Tsingshan Holdings Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “Tsingshan Holdings”), a Fortune Global 500 company investing in the global new energy industry, is such a typical Chinese enterprise going to sea. In recent years, under the trend of sustainable development, Qingshan Holdings has continuously planned a layout in the global new energy industry chain. Recently, Rockwell Automation’s E-House prefab electrical equipment solution helped Qingshan Holdings achieve rapid deployment in the Salt Lake lithium mine development project in Argentina, which is called the “pioneer” for the Chinese offshore enterprise to escort the road of “lithium”.

Sea race for “lithium” want to road

Face the challenges of power supply and distribution facilities

In recent years, the global trend of energy transformation and sustainable development has made lithium resources a hot strategic resource in the world. As a key raw material for consumer electronics and new energy vehicle energy storage components, the demand for lithium continues to grow. In this context, Tsingshan Holdings invested $350 million in the 24,000 tons LCM battery grade lithium extraction project in Argentina’s Centenario-Ratones Salt Lake in the process of going to sea to compete in the global lithium mine development field. According to the plan, the project is expected to start production in succession from 2024 to achieve commercial operation.

As an enterprise with rich experience in overseas projects, Qingshan Holdings is determined to win the smooth operation of this overseas lithium mine development project, and all projects are constructed with the high standards of the industry. However, a number of challenges still need to be addressed in order to proceed on schedule in Argentina’s complex terrain and harsh environment of the Salt Lake mine. Among them, whether to provide sufficient and stable energy supply for facilities and equipment in various regions such as the prenatal area and mining area of lithium mining projects is a challenge that cannot be underestimated.

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First of all, the Salt Lake mining area is located at an altitude of more than 3900 meters in the plateau area, and the terrain is complex, the environment is harsh, and sometimes it will face the threat of extreme weather such as storms, tsunamis or geological disasters, which brings great difficulties for personnel to enter and construct for a long time. Moreover, as the production project progresses, the area that guarantees power may need to be constantly moved. Therefore, according to the conventional way of approval, the construction of fixed power supply and distribution facilities is simply out of the question.

Second, a fully functional power supply and distribution facility needs to integrate a wide variety of equipment, but also after installation, commissioning before it can be put into use. The facilities and equipment built and operated by Chinese enterprises overseas must not only meet local standards in terms of technical requirements, but also the ability of Chinese enterprises to control local supply chains and labor forces is often not as good as that at home. Once the required materials and equipment are not supplied, or there is a shortage of construction personnel, it will greatly delay the progress of the project and cause unnecessary losses.

In view of these challenges, Qingshan Holdings selected Rockwell’s E-House prefabricated electrical equipment solutions as the “pioneer”, hoping to minimize the risk of project delays, while minimizing the installation and commissioning time of the project to ensure that the project is promoted on time.