A cost-benefit analysis of implementing a 54 MW solar PV plant in a South African platinum mining company: A case study

Abstract

A reliable and secure supply of energy is a prerequisite for adequate output and economic growth – especially in a platinum mining company. With exponential tariff increases, inadequate power supply leading to power cuts, and a carbon tax introduction, this study compared the costs with benefits by implementing a 54 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant. Two scenarios were compared over the same 20-year period in a case study of a South African platinum mining company operating in the platinum belt of Rustenburg. The first scenario was grounded upon the decision to proceed with the conventional manner of sourcing electricity from Eskom, South Africa’s power utility. The second scenario assessed the implementation of a 54 MW solar PV plant. The findings reveal that the company could generate 2 439 753 MWh of clean energy over 20 years with an investment of ZAR 910 857 920, giving a ZAR 563 205 994 (11%) carbon tax saving and a ZAR 5 614 426 335 (10%) reduction in electricity costs. Further, installing the solar PV plant could reinforce the company‘s dedication to protecting the environment and creating job opportunities through the employment of staff to install and maintain the plant.

Leveraging Green Ammonia for Resilient and Cost-Competitive Islanded Electricity Generation from Hybrid Solar Photovoltaic–Wind Farms: A Case Study in South Africa

“…For the optimistic case scenario, a 25% wind and 75% solar-based energy generation capacity system results in a slightly lower LCOE (∼0.14 USD/kWh). Notably, this indicates that the reduction in the costs of the PV system from 961 USD/kW in the conservative scenario to 618 USD/kWh in the optimistic has nearly no impact in the final LCOE. For both cases, a battolyzer + AE-HB design capacity of 20–30% of the theoretically assumed realistic maximum is found to be the optimum between battolyzer + AE-HB CapEx and wind/solar PV-based energy generation CapEx.…”

“…For wind turbines, an installed cost of 1877 USD/kW has been estimated . For solar energy, installed costs of 961 and 618 USD/kW for base case and good case scenarios have been estimated, respectively. , The effect of solar CapEx on LCOE has been illustrated in the Supporting Information. Further readings into the utilized cost estimation method including bare erected cost (BEC) estimation methods can be found in the Supporting Information of the previous work from our group …”

An Economic Analysis of Energy Saving and Carbon Mitigation by the Use of Phase Change Materials for Cool Energy Storage for an Air Conditioning System—A Case Study

“…It can be obtained from the official website of the Bureau of Energy in Taiwan. Carbon emission factors vary slightly for each country, so the calculation uses the local factor [40,41]. Table 2 shows the carbon emission factor from 2015 to 2021, which is obtained from the Bureau of Energy.…”

“…A cost-benefit analysis informs investment decision-making for renewable energy and environmental systems and has been used for solar photovoltaic systems [40], renewable energy systems [41], tidal energy production [42], river restoration [43], and wastewater reuse [44]. The decision indicators for a cost-benefit analysis include net present value (NPV), benefit-cost ratio (BCR), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period (PR).…”