Africa Mining Forum recently held a discussion titled “Reshaping energy capital flows to drive positive investment into mining”. In this discussion the effects of COVID on the power sector was highlighted as well as Ghana’s Infrastructure Investment.
Four things in the mining industry that are driving the power demand
-Electricity demand from the mining sector is growing in quantum. Collectively, if you look at the top ten mining companies by revenue, they consumed about 175 terawatt hours of electricity in 2019 alone, in context, that is the entire electricity consumption of Vietnam which has a population of 95 million.
– Increase in appetite among mining companies for reliability.
– Mining companies can reduce up to 50% of their emissions if they move to renewable sources.
-76% of the global economy the cost of generating bulk electricity, renewable energy is now the cheapest
Info by Panelist: Kwasi Ampofo, Metals Analyst at BloombergNEF
According to the Bloomberg report, energy emissions were down approximately 8% in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, however they will rise again with economic recovery.
Solomon Asamoah of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund has stated that, “DFIs (development finance institutions) are making renewables and climate financing key parts of their criteria before they will provide financing to companies and many private lenders have also followed those routes with the Equator Principles etc.”
This session was broadcast during the Africa Mining Forum Digital Event in November 2020. To watch the full discussion on demand, click here: https://www.africaminingforum.com/register
Info extracted from : https://www.esi-africa.com/event-news/why-mines-are-increasingly-adopting-renewable-energy/