Mining giant BHP’s renewables push continues in Western Australia
Western Australia’s largest and newest solar farm will provide around half of all of the energy needs at mining giant BHP’s West Kwinana refinery, it has been announced.
The Merredin solar farm has signed a 10-year contract that will see around 364,000 tonnes of CO2 cut from the nickel refinery’s operations as BHP continues its global push in moving towards adopting renewable energy sources.
BHP Nickel West Asset President Eddy Haegel said the arrangement would allow for more sustainable nickel production moving forward.
“This contract will further increase the sustainability of the nickel produced by Nickel West. It will reduce the refinery’s electricity emissions by 50 per cent, diversify our energy supply, and reduce the refinery’s electricity bill by up to 20 per cent,” he said.
“Nickel is a future-facing commodity, and sustainable nickel production is essential to meet future demand. This contract, the sulphide nature of our nickel deposits, and our integrated value chain increases our position as one of the least carbon-intensive nickel miners in the world.”
It’s just the beginning for the Merredin solar farm
Risen Energy developed the 100MW Merredin solar farm which is by far the biggest in Western Australia and reached 100 per cent operational output in August 2020 in conjunction with network service provider Western Power and the Australian Energy Market Operator.
In tandem with the 212MW Yandin wind farm and the 180MW Warradarge wind farm which are both located to the north of Perth, the three projects have doubled the renewable energy capacity in the state.
Risen Energy Vice General Manager John Zhong said he hoped this BHP partnership would be the first of many that could be powered by the Merredin solar farm.
“This agreement will bolster current and future Western Australian renewable projects. We look forward to welcoming many more clean energy partnerships to power manufacturing, minerals processing and other Western Australian industries,” he said.
BHP renewable energy projects around the world
The arrangement to use solar power for the West Kwinana refinery is just the latest renewable energy project that BHP has signed on for.
BHP has a huge presence in Chile and they have made the announcement that the Escondida and Spence copper mine will be 100 per cent powered by renewable energy sources by the mid-2020s, ending its long association with coal contracts.
BHP Minerals Americas head Daniel Malchuk said that was part of a plan to transition all Chile operations towards renewable energy in the near future.
“From a commercial perspective, these contracts will deliver an estimated 20 per cent reduction in energy prices at Escondida and Spence operations,” he said.
“This is an important step in our transition to sustainable energy use over the medium term in Chile.”
BHP has also announced a five-year contract to source wind and solar power for half of the energy requirements for its coal mining operations in Queensland. BHP has also announced that it will underpin the development of Australia’s biggest solar farm at Western Downs.
Source: energymatters
