CASE STUDY: SOUTH DEEP MINE

This case study describes how Gold Fields developed a 40 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project at its South Deep Gold Mine in South Africa to reduce operating costs and enhance energy security in the face of rising utility tariffs and supply constraints.

• The South Deep Gold Mine has a peak electricity demand of 60 megawatts (MW) and an annual consumption of 500 gigawatt hours (GWh), processing approximately 150,000 tons of ore per month.
• Energy expenses at South Deep have grown to represent 13 percent of total operating expenses, driven by peak demand charges and utility tariffs from Eskom, which have increased by an average of over 11 percent since 2014.
• Following a feasibility assessment and a vendor selection process involving 28 independent power producers (IPPs), Gold Fields planned a 40 MW solar PV installation. This capacity was determined to be the optimal financial and technical solution due to a 20 MW interconnection constraint between the mine's two shafts.
• The solar PV deployment is expected to offset 15–20 percent of the mine's energy consumption from Eskom and is forecast to achieve a 114 percent lifetime benefit-to-cost ratio in 2016 net present value.
• Although initial designs considered storage, Gold Fields decided not to install energy storage because it remained grid-tied to Eskom and pricing was considered prohibitive.

APA

RMI (n.d.). CASE STUDY: SOUTH DEEP MINE. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/09/RMI_South_Deep_Mine_Renewable_Energy_Case_Study_2017.pdf

Chicago

RMI. CASE STUDY: SOUTH DEEP MINE. n.d. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/09/RMI_South_Deep_Mine_Renewable_Energy_Case_Study_2017.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=CASE STUDY: SOUTH DEEP MINE |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/09/RMI_South_Deep_Mine_Renewable_Energy_Case_Study_2017.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmindcase, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{CASE STUDY: SOUTH DEEP MINE}}, institution = {RMI}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/09/RMI_South_Deep_Mine_Renewable_Energy_Case_Study_2017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }