The government needs to urgently work on taking the red tape out of individuals and companies being able to supply electricity to the grid, now that companies no longer need a licence to produce their own energy needs, said Gold Fields’ interim CEO, Martin Preece.
Leaders of some of South Africa’s biggest mining groups yesterday discussed their renewable energy projects at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town. The Minerals Council, for example, has said that at least 89 mining companies have embarked on projects to generate their own electricity in this country.
Preece said the government should also make it worthwhile for the private sector to invest in renewable energy, without having to make the supply of electricity to the grid a chief profit motive for the investor.
Preece said Gold Fields’ 50 megawatt solar project was up and running and there were plans to increase this capacity a further 10% this year, and the project had resulted in considerable cost and business continuity benefits for the group.
He said there were other benefits from the project, including that the mine’s workers did not feel demotivated by having to sit for hours on downtime during load shedding.
Preece said an environmental impact assessment was also underway for wind turbines at their local mines, and the hope was that once these came on stream, Gold Fields would be able to operate off the Eskom grid, and be able to also supply the grid with electricity during peak power demand periods.
Fahmida Smith, Market Development Principal at Anglo American Platinum, said their strategy was to be carbon neutral by 2040, and a multifaceted approach to achieve this had been adopted, including solar and wind power, energy storage, energy efficiency improvements, carbon capture, as well as the use of hydrogen as a fuel for trucks.
She said up to 80% of on-site carbon emissions at mines were derived from diesel fuel from trucks. A large mine truck at Anglo’s mines consumed up to 900 000 litres of diesel per year, she said.
She said they were working on 9 “catalytic projects” toward decarbonisation, which would have a $4 billion (R70.6bn) positive impact on the country’s gross domestic product and create up to 14 000 jobs by 2050.
Mike Teke, the CEO of Seriti Resources, a coal mining group, said the private sector should have a role not only in supplying the grid with electricity, but also in being able to invest in the grid itself. He said this would result in strong electricity infrastructure in the country.
He said Seriti was initially in a difficult position as a coal mining group, and even, in the interests of climate change and the move towards decarbonisation, considered selling some coal assets.
“We decided, however, that we will remain a coal business, but we recognise the need to decarbonise and so we will invest in renewables,” Teke said.
In August, Seriti acquired a majority stake in Windlab Africa’s wind and solar-powered assets through a subsidiary Seriti Green. Windlab Africa consists of 100% of Windlab South Africa and 75% of Windlab East Africa.
Teke said as a responsible coal producer, Seriti was conscious of the impact that fossil fuels had on the environment and it would play an active role in helping manage the just transition to a low-carbon economy, while balancing South Africa’s energy needs.
Teke said they were surprised to find that there was enough wind in Mpumalanga for wind turbines, and they had plans to generate 900 megawatts of electricity, of which the group would use 150MW, while the rest would be sold to other mining groups, large industrial users and possibly also to the grid.
“You will be able to see wind turbines in Mpumalanga very soon,” he said.
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