The future of mining and renewable energy

04 Oct The future of mining and renewable energy

Ernst and Young’s Global Cleantech Center reports that renewable energy will play significant role in the mining sector particularly to provide cost-competitive and reliable energy in remote locations in emerging market where there s no reliable power source.

EY forecasts that by 2022, renewable energy investment in the mining industry could reach $1.3bln in the Asia Pacific region.

The mining sector is expanding into new and often remote locations as a response to increasing demand from growing emerging markets. This often means having to deal with unreliable power supply from the grid and uncertain power prices. In most instances, grid-connected electricity needs to be supplemented with on-site generation, typically large-scale diesel generation, resulting in a dependency on diesel fuel. The more remote the mine, the more likely off-grid power solutions are required.

Reliable access to cost-efficient energy sources is a strategic imperative for mining companies. It is essential to their bottom lines and increasingly, their licenses to operate.

In response, the international mining sector is deploying innovative energy-saving strategies and making substantial industry-wide direct investments into renewable energy infrastructure. At the heart of recent innovations in corporate mining energy strategies lie the construction and acquisition of renewable energy-generating assets, on- and off-site, and the direct contracting for renewable energy through power purchase agreements.

Source: https://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY_-_Mining:_the_growing_role_of_renewable_energy/$FILE/EY-mining-the-growing-role-of-renewable-energy.pdf