On day three of the 2023 Mining Indaba Indaba in Cape Town, discussions focused on green metals and the Green Transformation in Africa, detailing the demand boost and supply crunches, as we pave the way to decarbonisation.
On the sidelines though, a key highlight was Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) signing a historical cooperation agreement to facilitate the development of the value chain in electric battery and clean energy sector which saw Zambia’s Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources take the stage on a panel discussion where he indicated that importance of investment in the sector.
According to Colombia Climate School, “to keep the planet from warming more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, most countries, including the U.S., have goals to reach net zero by 2050. Net zero means that all greenhouse gas emissions produced are counterbalanced by an equal amount of emissions that are eliminated. Achieving this will require rapid decarbonization”.
The school further states that, “there are two aspects to decarbonization. The first entails reducing the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the combustion of fossil fuels. This can be done by preventing emissions through the use of zero-carbon renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and biomass, which now make up one-third of global power capacity, and electrifying as many sectors as possible. Energy efficiency will reduce the demand for energy, but increasing electrification will increase it, and in 2050, the demand for power is expected to be more than double what it is today”.
Ana Hajduka Shields of AfricaGreenCo from Zambia spoke on a panel discussion on the Decarbonising of the mining sector through renewable energy aggregators and the Southern African Power Pool.
She provided information on context of mining, energy and climate change which included details on what the current regional generation mix looked like which showed that a significant portion of around 62% was from thermal coal generate sites most in South Africa while the rest was mostly renewable.
Furthermore, she indicated that north of $700 billion investment was required to achieve net zero. “To contribute to the 2C path, South Africa, which is responsible for the majority of the region’s demand, needs to cut its emissions by ~60 75% by 2050.
In order to contribute to the 2C path and meet rising demand, there is need for more renewable generation capacity.
Ana also exposed the challenges of the electricity and supply industry which is fraught with contingent liabilities.
“With the current project financing model, this is resulting in escalation of contingent liabilities on governments due to sovereign guarantees on PPAs tied to state utilities. In addition, the quick onboarding of renewable energy projects, which are variable in nature”.