Antinuclear

Mining companies turn to solar power, to cut costs

perhaps the most important news from an Australian perspective has been the move by mining companies to adopt solar technologies to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, particularly diesel, and to keep a lid on their soaring energy costs.

The development of off-grid solar projects, particularly with remote and mining communities, is expected to be a central theme of the newly established Australian Renewable Energy Agency

a “huge opportunity” in the replacement of expensive diesel, both in remote and off-grid areas, and the fringe-of-grid areas

Miners embrace solar power – as a cost saving measure REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson   18 January 2013  The New Year is barely more than two weeks old, and already solar is grabbing headlines: China has confirmed it expects to install 10GW of solar in 2013, a development that would take its total installed capacity close to 50GW by 2015, and well beyond the  most optimistic forecasts of 100GW by 2020 if the growth rate continues to expand.

Elsewhere, the Middle East expects to intall 3GW of solar by 2015, the state of New York has announced a$1.5 billion extension to its solar program, France doubled its solar targets to 1GW, India is about to tender 1GW of projects, Warren Buffett has invested another $2.5 billion in solar projects, Italy and Spain have set new solar generation records, and Germany increased its solar production by 45 per cent after adding another 7.3GW of capacity.

But perhaps the most important news from an Australian perspective has been the move by mining companies to adopt solar technologies to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, particularly diesel, and to keep a lid on their soaring energy costs.

The development of off-grid solar projects, particularly with remote and mining communities, is expected to be a central theme of the newly established Australian Renewable Energy Agency, as its chairman Greg Bourne made clear in an interview with RenewEconomy last year.

Bourne said that there was a “huge opportunity” in the replacement of expensive diesel, both in remote and off-grid areas, and the fringe-of-grid areas. “If you can prove the technology and the control systems for forecasting and intermittency, you have a lot more confidence in trying it nearer to  a large grid and beginning to sweep away the barriers of  ‘oh, we can’t do this, everything will fail,” he said.

It could be the strategy that gives life to the solar thermal technologies that have so far struggled to compete with solar PV projects on the basis of cost of grid-connected projects. Certainly, that was the expectation of many experts whose views we sought late last year, and several solar developers have told RenewEconomy that they are excited about the prospects of finally landing a solar project with an Australian mining group.

But it seems that Australia has already been beaten to the punch by miners in Chile – another country with strong solar resources, huge mines that cannot be adequately serviced by the weak local grid, and which are being hit by soaring fossil fuel costs, particularly diesel…….

The fact that BHP has chosen Chile as the location for its first MW-scale solar project is instructive., and it will be interesting to see if there is any follow-through on its mining projects in Australia and elsewhere.   http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/miners-embrace-solar-power-as-a-cost-saving-measure-19936

January 18, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, solar