In a Q&A interview published this week, Pattern Development’s CEO Mike Garland offers the lessons learned from partnering with Antofagasta and predicts how Chilean mining companies will expand their use of renewable energy in the future.
Great quotes include from Mike Garland include:
“Renewables are probably the least expensive option they [the mines] have. We’ll typically contract in both South America and North America for 20, 25, or even 30 years to supply power at a fixed or slightly escalated cost. There’s almost no other fuel source that does that. So if you’re paying five cents and the rate is growing at half the rate of inflation of the country you’re in, now you’re paying less than five cents 20 years from now.”
“At first, the grid operators will resist because they’ll feel like people going off-grid are getting away with something, and they’re not paying their fair share.”
“We want to expand in Chile, and so the Summit is an example of something that can bring people together and open up opportunities of mutual benefit to both the mining companies and companies like Pattern Development.”