African Mining May - June 2019 | Page 11

Projects RENEWABLE SA SOLUTION AT PRIESKA Location: Phase: Resource: South Africa Production Zinc/copper The primary scope of the agreement is to investigate the feasibility of generating and supplying 35MW of electricity from a hybrid power system using integrated wind and solar technologies. The renewable energy generation site will be within 20km of the project site, making the establishment of a dedicated feed via overhead power transmission line possible. According to Greg Austin, managing director at juwi, hybrid systems are at the forefront of transforming the remote power generation sector and the resource industry into one with a sustainable future, as they offer emission- free low-cost energy. juwi’s award-winning solar hybrid project Degrussa/Sandfire in Australia Cape Town-based juwi Renewable Energies, a subsidiary of international project developer juwi AG, and Repli Trading No 27, a subsidiary of Orion Minerals, recently entered into an agreement to investigate renewable energy generation for the Prieska Zinc Copper Project in the Northern Cape of South Africa. Orion Minerals is looking to use renewable energy sources at its Prieska project in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. set the standard and blueprint for a reliable and sustainable energy supply for remote mines and industries. The off-grid solar hybrid project has saved the mine several million litres of diesel fuel. According to Errol Smart, managing director and CEO at Orion, the agreement is in line with the company’s strategy to make best use of its geographic advantages. “The region has the highest irradiance levels in the country and is very well situated for wind farms. It is already a well-established renewable-energy- generation region with 190MW of solar power plants in operation and 240MW of wind power under construction adjacent to our Prieska project. The opportunity can only improve our power supply security, whilst lessening the burden on the national electricity grid and reducing our carbon and water footprint,” says Smart. b