Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto stands as a recipient of various offers that are being made to construct wind and solar farms producing 4 gigawatts of energy to run its alumina and aluminium activities in Australia's Queensland region, as was declared by the company's Australia division head on August 5.
The Chief Executive officer of the Rio Tinto Australian division, Kellie Parker, claimed that the company has already received 'a lot more than 4 GW' worth of provisional offers for their single-use purpose, in the long run, diminishing harmful carbon emissions.
In June, as estimated by the Rio Tinto authority, its Boyne aluminium smelter, Queensland alumina refinery and Yarwun alumina refinery required a total 1,140 megawatts (MW) of reliable power and was searching for the perfect contractor who would build a 4,000 MW or 4 GW wind and solar power bank where energy can also be stored for future use by the smelters.
Once a smelter is fully optimised, a simple power disruption might trample the entire process. Therefore, in a smelter, the continuous flow of energy is quite essential for its survival.
Anyhow, Kellie Parkar avoided opening the entire constructional estimate for the project.
She referred to the Melbourne Mining Club as she addressed certain concerns: "All of us understand that Australia remains an expensive location to build, so it won't be easy."
This new wind and solar energy unit will be three times larger than the existing power sources in Australia, and a million problems require settlement before construction begins.
Kellie Parker also added: "A coordinated grid solution in Queensland will be critical and requires the collaboration of suppliers, users, regulators, transmission providers and policymakers. Technology will also play an important role."
The mining leader is still considering the offers as most of them wish Rio Tinto to be the operator, owner, investor, partner and also the customer for the projects, according to Kellie. The company is still calculating its role in the generation and supply of renewable energy to Australian smelters.
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