
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