South Africa's mines could cut power consumption by more than the Eskom-mandated 10%, Schneider Electric president and CEO Jean-Pascal Tricoire said on Friday.

Tricoire told Mining Weekly Online in Johannesburg that Schneider was able to buffer critical equipment during power outages as well as shrink carbon footprints.

Making energy more efficient and "green" was central to the company’s offering, he added during a whistle-stop business visit.

“Clearly, I believe, we can do better than 10%. It’s all about automating,” Tricoire said.

The company had developed a system that “buffered” electricity supply to the “most sensitive and critical applications” during outages on national electricity grids and was able to offer mines “total reliability” in a world where energy was scarce and could “bridge” energy-short national electricity grids.

The company was going all out to develop skills in South Africa and worldwide.

Schneider’s obligation, he said, was not only to supply technology, but also to supply the skills that went together with the technology.

Mining was a strong industry in many of the 100 countries in which Schneider operated and was able to migrate global best practice.

The company employed more than 1 000 people in South Africa, where it also had a research-and-development facility.

To see a video on Schneider CEO Tricoire, go to www.miningweekly.com and clikc on 'Multimedia" and then on 'Video Clips'

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