Turquoise Ridge Joint Venture - Peak Shaving - Savings of $336,686 per Year 

March 2005, Winnemucca, Nevada

SES conducted a plant wide energy assessment at the Turquoise Ridge Joint Venture (TRJV) underground mine site near Golconda, NV. TRJV works two separate underground mines at this site, Turquoise Ridge and Getchell, with an expected production rate of 300,000 ounces of gold per year. More about TRJV can be found here. The two mines together, including administration buildings, shops, and assay labs, combine for a total energy demand of 7.3 MW, with the Turquoise Ridge mine being the single largest user of electricity with a demand of 4.9 MW. Currently, TRJV consumes a total of 51,238,196 kWhr of electricity at an average blended rate of $0.084101/kWhr, resulting in an annual electrical energy cost of over $4.3 million. The normal operation of the entire facility results in a cyclic demand profile, creating a relatively low overall load factor of 70-80%. Because of this low load factor, Sierra Pacific Power Company, the local utility provider, has placed TRJV in the GS-3 rate schedule. One of the recommendations resulting from the SES plant wide energy assessment was to use standby generators for shaving peak demands at the facility. Using these generators to flatten out the demand profile of the facility will result in a higher annual load factor, up to 90%. With this high load factor, TRJV can be placed into Sierra Pacific's GS-4 rate schedule, with an overall blended electricity rate of $0.0773/kWhr, an 8.1% reduction in energy costs. The implementation cost for the project was $238,960, resulting in an annual savings of $336,686 for a simple payback period of 8.5 months. Over the 5 year contract period required for GS-4 customers, it is estimated that TRJV will save over $1.4 million in electrical costs.

SES, working together with Sierra Pacific Power Company, was able to negotiate a better electricity rate schedule for TRJV. SES President Denis Donovan was very satisfied with the results. "SES was able to use our knowledge and expertise in Utility matters to negotiate an outstanding opportunity for our client." The negotiations continued for a period of 6 months but in the end Turquoise Ridge achieved a new rate schedule which should yield a minimum of $200,000 in annual cost savings. Donovan went on to say; "This result is a win-win, the utility company is encouraging improvements in load factors through a carrot approach and the client achieves the cost benefits of the new rate schedule immediately with additional savings as the load factor is improved."