Anglo American Announces Plans Towards Developing A Regional Renewable Energy Ecosystem In South Africa
Anglo American Announces Plans Towards Developing A Regional Renewable Energy Ecosystem In South Africa.
British Mining Company Anglo American has announced its plans of developing a Regional Renewable Energy Ecosystem (RREE) in South Africa. The ecosystem is expected to be designed to meet Anglo American’s operational electricity requirements in South Africa through the supply of 100% renewable electricity by 2030, thereby also supporting the resilience of the local electricity supply systems and the wider decarbonisation of energy in the country.
As Anglo American progresses towards its 2040 target of carbon neutral operations, this partnership with EDF Renewables is designed to abate the largest single source of its Scope 2 emissions, being its current grid supply in South Africa. The RREE aims to support South Africa’s decarbonisation ambitions and the country’s Just Energy Transition.
Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said in a statement, “We are targeting carbon neutrality across our operations by 2040 and we are making good progress. Today’s announcement is a further major step towards addressing our on-site energy requirements, the largest source of our operational emissions. Our partnership with EDF Renewables to address our Scope 2 footprint in South Africa complements our FutureSmart Mining programme’s abatement of our Scope 1 emissions through low and zero emission technologies, including our hydrogen haul truck system, and the development of South Africa’s Hydrogen Valley. Step by step, we are changing the very nature of mining and how our stakeholders experience our business while supporting a Just Transition.”
The RREE will draw on South Africa’s natural renewable energy potential to develop a network of on-site and off-site solar and wind farms, amongst other opportunities, offering 24/7 renewable energy to Anglo American’s operations. Anglo American anticipates that a number of partners will provide equity financing for the RREE, in addition to the RREE attracting debt financing that is typical for high quality energy infrastructure projects
