Fluor well positioned to meet global energy transition demands

11th May 2021 By: Tasneem Bulbulia - Senior Contributing Editor Online

The global energy transition is driving significant demand for reliable and cost-effective renewable energy, as well as for minerals and alternative battery materials, states engineering company Fluor.

Fluor Mining and Metals VP Russell Ayres points out that the company, earlier this year, announced new business segments and an update to its strategy to help meet these global demands.

Fluor now has three business segments – Urban Solutions, Mission Solutions and Energy Solutions.

Urban Solutions includes the Mining & Metals business and Energy Solutions comprises the former Energy and Chemicals business, and both will continue to operate in South Africa, says Ayres.

“These business segments use our knowledge-based expertise and technical solutions across all the industries to provide our clients with sustainable solutions that are more energy efficient, derived from sustainable sources and have a low- or zero-carbon footprint, while remaining committed to Fluor and our clients’ environmental, social and governance strategies,” he notes.

According to Ayres, the company has further identified four megatrends – Industry 4.0, Energy Transition and Urbanisation, Beyond Globalisation and Stakeholder Engagement.

These have a significant impact on driving towards a more sustainable future, the company states.

Ayres says Fluor’s Mining and Metals group is well positioned to assist the mining sector, which is under pressure from investors, governments and society to reduce emissions.

“Our clients are planning to meet energy transition demands in a sustainable way by electrifying their mines, powering them by using renewable energy sources, cutting carbon monoxide emissions, using less water and waste and, overall, just producing more efficiently.

“To assist our clients, we will be implementing new processing technologies in big data analytics, which will be important as the energy transition and urbanisation turbocharge the need for the metals that we focus on, especially copper.

“We are ready to provide our mining clients with professional and technical solutions as copper and battery metals, such as lithium and nickel, will be in huge demand to support this transition. Without these metals, a cleaner future will not be possible,” Ayres says.

With the continued and expanding growth in Fluor’s Mining and Metals business line, Urban Solutions will lead the office in Johannesburg.

Fluor’s Energy Solutions operations will be consolidated in the Durban office and will become the Energy Solutions Execution Centre for Southern Africa.

Fluor South Africa will remain the operating entity for Fluor in the region and will continue to support the newly formed business groups operating locally.