How Mining Can Help Bring Clean Energy Access to the Developing World

This briefing by RMI argues that mining companies in developing countries can improve financial and climate resilience by transitioning from inefficient diesel power to renewable energy. By co-creating business models with local communities, mining operations can address their own energy needs while expanding energy access and supporting sustainable development in remote regions.

• Mining operations face extreme energy inefficiencies, particularly with diesel power. A 2011 Clareo Partners paper indicated that for diesel power, which represents nearly half of energy consumption, only 30 to 40 percent of energy is converted to productive output, and only 12 percent is converted to measurable work after accounting for friction and mechanical losses.
• Improving energy efficiency and adopting renewables like wind and solar can provide significant financial benefits to mining companies, as energy costs can represent up to 30 percent of total expenditures. Renewables are increasingly less expensive than diesel, especially for remote projects.
• There is a significant opportunity for mining companies to support global sustainable development goals because over 60 percent of global mining production occurs in developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, the World Bank expects mining's power demand to triple from 2000 levels to over 23,000 megawatts (MW) by 2020, while the IEA reported that 625 million people in the region lacked energy access as of 2014.
• Case studies demonstrate the viability of shared energy projects: Rio Tinto's 1.7 MW solar plant in Cape York, Australia, supports up to 20 percent of the Weipa township's daytime electricity demand and saves 600,000 liters of diesel annually. In Burkina Faso, Windiga Energy's 20 MW solar plant near the Mana mine provides power to the local grid via the National Electricity Company of Burkina Faso (SONABEL) and the mine.
• Scaling these projects requires business model innovation and third-party facilitation to manage the complex interests of mining companies, communities, multilaterals, and development organizations. RMI and the Development Partner Institute are collaborating to provide this facilitation and develop a framework for these models.

APA

RMI (2018). How Mining Can Help Bring Clean Energy Access to the Developing World. https://rmi.org/resources/how-mining-can-help-bring-clean-energy-access-to-the-developing-world/

Chicago

RMI. How Mining Can Help Bring Clean Energy Access to the Developing World. 2018. https://rmi.org/resources/how-mining-can-help-bring-clean-energy-access-to-the-developing-world/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=How Mining Can Help Bring Clean Energy Access to the Developing World |date=26 June 2018 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/how-mining-can-help-bring-clean-energy-access-to-the-developing-world/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2018how, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{How Mining Can Help Bring Clean Energy Access to the Developing World}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2018}, month = jun, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/how-mining-can-help-bring-clean-energy-access-to-the-developing-world/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }