BUSINESS MAVERICK: Gold Fields’ R660m solar power plant project lights up with board approval

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With regulatory and now board approval in the bag, Gold Fields is set to begin construction of its 40 megawatt solar plant to help power up its South Deep mine. Given the shambolic state of Eskom, expect other mining companies to also start tapping the sun.

After a three-and-a-half-year process, the solar power project got the regulatory green light in late February. Now, the Gold Fields board has signed off on the construction of the plant, the company said on Wednesday.

The scale, like the gold deposits that lie beneath South Deep, is huge. The plant will consist of 116,000 solar panels that will cover 118 hectares, “roughly the size of 200 soccer fields”, Gold Fields said. “We are the first South African mine to build and operate our own solar plant of this scale. This will ensure greater reliability of power supply and reduce the cost of electricity, which currently makes up about 13% of the mine’s operating costs,” Gold Fields new CEO Chris Griffith said in a statement.

Such initiatives are also driven, of course, by the woeful state of Eskom and the escalating power bills it is imposing on customers for its unreliable and shoddy service.

 

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