Mining companies can play a key role in harnessing Africa’s abundant clean sources of energy to overcome the lack of electricity which affects at least one in three Africans, says a new World Bank report released at this year’s Mining Indaba, in Cape Town.
In its report, entitled Power of the Mine: A Transformative Opportunity for Sub-Saharan Africa, the Bank calls on the mining industry to work more closely with electricity utilities in the region to meet their growing energy demands.Mines as “anchor customers”
Rather than supplying their own energy on site, mines can become major and reliable customers for electricity utilities or independent power producers (IPPs) which can then grow and develop better infrastructure to bring low-cost power to communities. Power is critical to mining companies’ operations and, by becoming “anchor customers” for electricity utilities, mines can save hundreds of millions of dollars in supplying their own power. The report finds that mining’s demand for power in Sub-Saharan Africa will likely triple between 2000 and 2020 to reach over 23 000 MW. This could be higher than non-mining demand for power in some countries.Yet, many mining companies are still opting to supply their own electricity with diesel generators rather than buy power from the grid – often because of shortcomings in national power systems in the region.
