https://www.miningweekly.com

15 MW Essakane hybrid plant inaugurated in Burkina Faso

19th March 2018

By: Simone Liedtke

Creamer Media Social Media Editor & Senior Writer

     

Font size: - +

The 15 MW Essakane solar plant, in northern Burkina Faso, has been officially opened.

The photovoltaic (PV) plant will supply electricity to Iamgold's Essakane gold mine.

Owing to its isolated location, the mine is currently off-grid and relies solely on heavy fuel oil (HFO).

Iamgold worked with project sponsor, global renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) Total Eren to add solar capacity to the mine's existing power system.

Made up of close to 130 000 PV panels, the solar plant will be added to the existing 57 MW HFO power plant, thereby creating the hybrid PV-HFO plant and solar facility in Africa.

The project will help decrease the mine's fuel consumption by about six-million litres a year and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 18 500 t.

"The transition to generating more of our energy from renewable sources has been central to Iamgold's new energy strategy for several years now. The inauguration of the hybrid solar/thermal power plant is a new milestone in innovation and excellence, and one of which we are particularly proud," said Iamgold president and CEO Stephen Letwin in a statement released on Monday.

Meanwhile, Total Eren executive VP and global head of business development Fabienne Demol noted that the ceremony set a long-lasting footprint for Total Eren in Burkina Faso and confirms the company's ability to collaborate, together with its partner Africa Energy Management Platform (AEMP), with mining companies to address their energy needs.

"Iamgold has successfully taken up the challenge of bringing renewable power to mines and we demonstrated that, with the help of strong technical and financial partners, with enough flexibility and creativity to come up with innovative business and structuring models and with the continuous support of the national decision-makers and local communities, we can execute reliable and effective solutions for competitive power supply, even in the most remote areas," Demol added.

The Essakane solar plant will employ 40 permanent staff for the next 15 years.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION