Case studies: USA

CC&V Gold Mining Company evaluates wind power

Plans are currently under way to evaluate the possibility of harnessing the energy of the strong winds which always seems to be blowing at Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company’s Cresson Mine (CC&V).

Environmental technician Gary Horton recently contacted the United States Department of Energy’s Clean Cities Programme to assist the mining company with research. The Clean Cities Programme supports research and implementation of practices that contribute to the reduction of petroleum consumption. Horton gathered information on various forms of alternative energy including biodiesel and wind.

The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and US Department of Energy jointly sponsor the Wind Powering America Programme. Wind is a clean, inexhaustible energy source, and is one of the fastest growing energy sources in the world. The State of Colorado Office of Energy Management and Conservation loaned CC&V anemometers to study the wind potential for CC&V, in cooperation with these and other agencies.

Three towers equipped with recording anemometers and wind direction sensors have been installed along the western edge of the district. The anemometers will gather information for one year in order to provide a representative database for wind energy in the district. The data will be interpreted at the University of North Dakota. “At the end of one year we will be able to determine if any of the sites are feasible for wind generation. We will need to generate a steady nine miles per hour for our use” Horton explains. “There may even be an opportunity for participation with the communities of Victor, Cripple Creek, and Teller County.”

“To meet CC&V’s needs we’d look at four or five 1MW windmills 300 feet tall,” Horton said. “Wind is the easiest way to work with alternative energy; it is easier and cheaper than solar.”

As the wind energy project progresses CC&V continues to explore other sources of alternative energy for the mine site such as solar power and biodiesel.