Mines, especially mines that process and refine on-site, are ideally suited to achieve significant energy cost savings with solar energy because of their high and continuous electricity consumption. With over 5 years of operating experience and data from mining solar power plants, we can tailor solar power plants to the specific electricity demands of mines.
Equator Energy is East Africa’s market leader in Commercial and Industrial (C&I) solar power. We operate over 120 solar plants with a total capacity of over 50MW of solar capacity in 7 countries. Of these 6,2 MW are installed at gold mines, including a 4.4
MW solar diesel hybrid plant at a gold mine in Zimbabwe.
We have successfully installed and operate solar power plants in remote locations and challenging security environments. WE know how to deploy and operate in these markets from years of experience. This means we are able to supply solar power to any suitable mine no matter how remote its location is. See the photos below for examples of these projects.
Our business model is simple and risk free: we design, build, operate, maintain and insure solar power plants at our own expense. This means, there is no investment required from our clients. We simply charge you an operation fee for the solar electricity that you use on a per kWh basis at substantially lower cost than your grid and or diesel electricity supply. Our cost savings against diesel electricity typically exceed 60 %.
We operate a 0.75 MW solar-diesel hybrid solar power plant at the Venice Gold Mine near Kadoma, Zimbabwe. Commissioned in 2017, the plant is entering its 5th year of operation. The size of the solar power plant was tailored to the power demand of the mine. During daytime the solar power plant (yellow) supplies close to 100 % of the mine’s electricity needs. The solar power plant automatically transitions between grid-parallel and diesel hybrid operation as and when the utility grid (grey) is available.
During the extremely poor grid availability in 2020 the solar power plant reduced daytime, diesel electricity costs by over 75 % for the mine.
~25 % annual solar supply share
~75 % savings against diesel electricity
~40 % savings against grid electricity (ZESA)
20 years operating, maintenance and monitoring by Equator Energy
10 days from delivery of equipment to commissioning by our installation team
Remote monitored and controlled by our operations centre 24/7/365
Automatic operating mode shift from diesel-hybrid to grid-parallel as and when grid is available
Intelligent online energy dashboard access custom designed for the client (see the load curve graph above)
zero investment by Venice Mine
Ground mounted, ballasted mounting system
Floor 13, office 1313
Applewood Building, Ngong Road
Nairobi, Kenya
+254 741 879 815
Kansanga - Kiwafu Road
Off Gaba Road
Kampala, Ouganda
+256 740 111 999
2nd Floor, Résidence Lagane
Avenue Coumba Gawlo
Yoff, Dakar, Senegal
+221 77 715 96 86
