Oh the "Iron-y" with most, if not all WA Iron Ore Producers in the Pilbara moving away from Fossil Fuels and into Renewables +Lithium ion battery storage, from Rio to Fortesque, Oz Minerals to BHP with Gina even looking to Switch atm
Rio Tinto joins iron ore mining giants making big switch to solar and batteries
Mining giant Rio Tinto has become the latest major iron ore miner in West Australia’s Pilbara region to turn to renewables to lowest costs and cut emissions, announcing that a new solar farm and a lithium ion battery will supply all the daytime electricity needs and two thirds of the annual requirements of its new $2.6 billion Koodaideri project.
Rio Tinto says it will spend $98 million on a new 34MW solar farm at the Koodaideri mine in the Pilbara, as well as a 45MW/12MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system that will help power its entire Pilbara power network.
“The 34 megawatt solar photovoltaic plant is expected to supply all of Koodaideri’s electricity demand during peak solar power generation times and approximately 65 per cent of the mine’s average electricity demand,” the company said in a statement.
Rio Tinto joins other iron ore majors in the Pilbara also shifting to solar and battery storage because of the lower costs. Andrew “Twiggy Forrest’s Fortescue Mines announced last month that it will build an extra 150MW of solar, and a big battery, as it links up all its iron ore resources in the Pilbara into a single network for the first time.
Rio Tinto said its solar plant will cover around 105 hectares, comprise an estimate 100,000 panels and should be completed in 2021. The new 12MWh battery in Tom Price will provide spinning reserve generating capacity to support a stable and reliable network, in much the same way as Alinta has demonstrated at Newman.
“The construction of our first solar plant in the Pilbara is a significant milestone for the business and an important step in reducing our carbon footprint in the region,” Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said in a statement.
“We are investigating additional renewable energy options in the Pilbara, as well as other opportunities to reduce emissions across our entire global portfolio, building on the 43 per cent reduction in absolute greenhouse gas emissions since 2008.”
Salisbury said Rio Tinto is working to define new emissions reduction targets from 2020 as part of its “transition to a lower carbon world.”
A spokesman for the company said the “additional renewable energy options” could include more solar, the addition of wind energy, or more battery storage.
The $2.6 billion Koodaideri mine was approved in November last year with construction commencing earlier this year. Production capacity will be 43 million tonnes annually with first production is expected to commence by the end of 2021.
The solar plant and battery are estimated to lower annual carbon dioxide emissions by about 90,000 tonnes compared to conventional gas powered generation.
This is the equivalent of taking about 28,000 cars off the road, the company said in a statement.
Is Gina Rinehart finally ready to switch to green energy and cut emissions?
Mining Billionaire Gina Rinehart – one of the country’s staunchest defenders of coal power – may be about to go green.
Well, at least for her substantial iron ore operations in West Australia’s Pilbara region, where her company Roy Hill is on the look out for “alternative” power technologies and emission reductions.
Roy Hill has placed an ad on Seek for a principal advisor whose main roles will be to conduct research, analysis and recommendations to “increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions through alternative forms of fuel and energy.”
The role also includes managing tenders and the “ability to influence senior management” – presumably about the present and future technologies that the new appointee is expected to be an expert in.
Rinehart, of course, has a major interest in one of the coal projects in the vast Galilee Basin in north Queensland, and is the biggest financial supporter of the right-wing and anti-climate science think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs. But even coal miners are realising that when it comes to their own business, renewables are offering a cheap and reliable alternative to fossil fuels.
It’s very likely that Roy Hill management is watching with keen interest what’s going on around it, particularly the nearby iron ore operations of fellow iron ore billionaire “Twiggy” Forrest, which have committed to installing a 60MW solar farm, the largest renewable installation for any mining project in Australia.
The job description for Roy Hill says its new principal advisor will be required to have deep knowledge of the local grid (known as the North West Interconnected System), and power purchase agreements – suggesting the company is thinking along similar lines.
Many miners are looking to adopt wind, solar and battery storage at significant scale given their falling costs and improved controls and integration technology that provides a cheaper and more reliable alternative to the current dependence on gas and diesel.
Some miners are looking to add processing and added value revenue streams given the low cost of wind and solar, rather than simply exporting the ore overseas.
Last week, the first stage of the ground-breaking renewables power supply at the Agnew mine in the Goldfields – the first to integrate wind, solar and battery storage – was officially opened.
The solar array has been installed, with the wind farm and battery storage to be added next.
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