Weipa mine to use renewable energy owing to ARENA’s funding

Weipa bauxite mine will soon become the first mining site to adopt renewable energy thanks to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) who is providing the funds worth around $23.4 million for the revolutionary two-phased project.

For the first phase of the project, ARENA will be shelling out $3.5 million which will be used to lay down 18,000 ground-mounted thin-film solar photovoltaics (PV) by First Solar and Ingenero. This will provide 1.7MW off-grid energy that will be used to operate the mine, town and port facilities.

This will contribute up to 20% of daytime demand at the same time offsetting the excessive reliance of mining operations on diesel fuels.

The CEO of the ARENA, Ivor Frischknecht said that this avant-garde project will “demonstrate the potential for renewable energy to provide reliable and competitively priced power to remote mining operations.” The power generated from the project will be under a 15-year power purchase agreement with Rio Tinto Alcan.

Another $7.8 million is slated for the second phase of the project which is due to be completed on 2017, adding an extra 5MW PV system which would include a significant storage “capable of meeting up to 100% of daytime power demand at Weipa at certain times,” Mr Frischknecht said.