Mining’s energy bill just met its match as digital twins AI and regenerative drives unlock the kind of savings that turn control rooms into profit engines

If you still think “energy recovery” belongs in the sustainability chapter of the annual report, Rockwell Automation would like a quiet word – preferably from inside a control tower humming with AI, digital twins and enough conveyor simulations to make your GPU blush.

When Kumar Parekh, global principal – digital (mining, metals & cement) at Kalypso – acquired by Rockwell Automation in 2020 – talks about energy optimisation, he speaks with the calm conviction of someone who has seen a hundred mines wrestle with the same challenge. And he doesn’t mince words: energy is now one of the biggest levers for cost control, reliability and decarbonisation in modern mining.

Energy costs that can make or break a mine

At most sites, energy accounts for a large chunk of expenses – and in some processes, the lion’s share.

“Energy usage is typically around 25 to 35 percent of total operating costs,” Kumar explains to The Rock Wrangler. “Grinding and crushing alone can account for up to 60 percent of energy usage in a mine.”

It’s a reminder that every inefficiency, every unplanned shutdown and every misconfigured circuit has a direct and measurable cost. For Kumar, the opportunity lies in treating energy, automation and analytics as a single integrated system rather than as separate layers.

From Reactive maintenance to predictive stability

Rockwell’s connected-mine architecture ties together PlantPAx DCS, Pavilion8 MPC, IIoT data and AI-driven condition monitoring into a single environment that can sense, predict and react faster than any individual operator.

“The focus for many large mining operations has shifted,” Kumar says. “Unscheduled maintenance is usually well managed. Now it’s about scheduled maintenance, managing spares and inventory, and minimising disruption. With AI analytics we can dig deeper into data and turn this into actionable findings.”

This shift reflects a broader industry transformation – from reacting to problems to preventing them entirely, and from guessing at root causes to diagnosing them precisely.

Industry 5.0: control towers become decision centres

One of the clearest signs of this evolution is the rise of human-machine collaboration in remote operations centres.

“Industry 4.0 was about empowering humans with technology,” Kumar says. “Industry 5.0 is about bringing more human and machine synergy. We’re seeing control towers evolve from monitoring centres into collaborative and human-centric decision-making centres powered by AI, Cobots and immersive tech.”

It’s an ambitious vision: operators directing multiple sites with richer context, faster insights and more confident decision-making – all while reducing exposure to high-risk environments.

Digital Twins: reducing risk before a single bolt is touched

If you want a glimpse of how this plays out on the ground, Kumar points to a towering example: an iron ore mine operating a two-kilometre conveyor with a two-hundred-metre drop.

“We simulated the conveyor system using our Emulate3D digital twin technology,” he explains. “It included Rockwell and third-party OEM integration, giving us the ability to test the system before rolling out changes.”

The ability to model braking forces, stress loads and behavioural responses in a virtual environment not only reduces the risk of unintended consequences – it also accelerates innovation by removing the fear of breaking something expensive.

Variable Speed Drives: precision, efficiency and regeneration

Across mining infrastructure, Rockwell tunes its technology to the demands of each asset.

“For conveyors, the important consideration is speed control,” Kumar says. “For crushing and milling, it’s all about dynamic torque regulation. And for hoists, it’s about smooth acceleration and deceleration.”

Those hoists, in particular, are becoming unexpected energy champions. Kumar highlights an underground application where regenerative braking captured energy that would otherwise have been lost – an early sign of how mine equipment could become micro-generators.

The numbers that make CFOs smile

The results of Rockwell’s approach are not small gains – they are step changes.

Kumar describes one South African gold mine that installed a PowerFlex 600D Variable Speed Drive with advanced control logic.

“The result was annual energy savings of 55 gigawatt hours,” he says. “In a single shift, one shaft was saving 62 percent and the other 48 percent on energy consumption.”

In the United States, a copper mine running PlantPAx DCS and PowerFlex VSDs achieved similar outcomes.

“They saw a 10 percent improvement in ventilation efficiency, a 10 percent reduction in utility costs, and a saving of one million dollars every year,” he says.

DataMosaix and FactoryTalk: seeing the whole mine at once

Kumar spends a lot of time talking about visibilitybecause energy optimisation only works when all the right pieces are in view.

“FactoryTalk Energy Manager and our DataMosaix solution bring IT, OT and energy technology all to one place,” he explains. “We convert multiple types of data into a unified and easily understood data set.”

From there, real-time measurement flows into dashboards, digital twins, ERP systems and ESG reporting, giving miners a single truth for energy performance across the site.

The barriers: skills, integration and ROI

Kumar is pragmatic about the challenges.

Technical barriers like integration complexity and intermittent supply can slow progress. Behavioural barriers like skills gaps and labour shortages add friction. And commercially, energy markets and regulations move quickly.

“What got a good ROI last year isn’t guaranteed to get the same ROI this year,” he says. “This is especially challenging for projects with long lead times.”

But none of these barriers are showstoppers – they simply require structure.

How pilots become whole-of-site transformation

Scaling isn’t something to be improvised. For Kumar, it is a discipline.

“The journey from pilot to full-site deployment requires a structured framework,” he says. “You begin with implementation and validation of the pilot. Then you standardise data models and business processes. Then you align sites with enterprise KPIs, harden the solution for cybersecurity, and scale from one site to many.”

What emerges is a blueprint for repeatable success – one that prevents fragmentation and controls cost.

The future: forecasting, AI and double-digit energy savings

Rockwell’s roadmap continues down the path of electrification, autonomous operations and AI-driven energy management. Kumar is particularly excited by the next generation of forecasting tools.

“The key question is how we deliver double-digit energy savings with these tools,” he says. “With utility APIs, weather data and digital twins, users can dynamically manage energy load and dispatch it at the point of use. Machine learning can help with demand management.”

It’s a future where mines not only operate more efficiently but actively anticipate energy needs before they arise.

Why all of this matters now

For mining professionals, Kumar’s message is unmistakable: the convergence of energy management, automation and predictive analytics is reshaping how mines compete.

Energy optimisation is no longer a side project or an environmental checkbox. It is the engine of operational performance, cost control and long-term sustainability.

As Kumar puts it, “You can look at sustainability from two perspectives – environmental sustainability, and business sustainability. Environmental sustainability reduces negative impacts. Business sustainability ensures you can continue to invest in new initiatives.”

In today’s mining sector, both matter – and both depend on using energy better.