Development of renewable energy and mining

• higher electricity needs as raw material quality normally deteriorates during the life-time of the mine
• price pressure on key mining products such as gold
• openness for alternative energy solutions
• renewable energy plays an important role in the corporate sustainability strategy

• falling prices in both solar and wind (solar panel price decrease by 75% during 3 years)
• proven track record and excellent reliability (big renewable energy plants are technically considered as low-risk by institutional investors)
• development of technical solutions for the integration of diesel and renewable energy
• considerable number of solar and wind pilot projects in the mining industry

• some mining companies require an even higher profitability
• some mines are so cash constraint that they do not have the financial means to invest
• some mines are at the end of their lifetime
• the renewable energy costs are generally estimated as higher than they are
• energy is not considered as a core competence for many mines
• technical penetration of many renewable energy systems is not judged as very high ( maximum percentage of renewable energy that still guarantees a reliable electricity generation at different sun / wind conditions)

Many of these bottlenecks actually do not reflect the reality today. There are solutions for external financing such as rental or power providers selling the energy to the mine. Flexible rental solutions allows at the same time for renewable energy solutions for mines with a shorter remaining lifetime. On the technical side improvements of diesel generators will improve penetration as well as enhancements of hybrid controlling units.