Licences sought for Australia’s biggest wind, solar and battery hybrid to power giant gold mines

The developer of what is being described as the largest wind, solar and battery hybrid project of its type in Australia has begun the first regulatory steps to gain a licence to sell power to one of the country’s biggest open pit gold mines.

Zenith Energy, which has emerged as a specialist in off-grid renewable hybrid systems that has nearly eliminated diesel use in some mines, is proposing to build a much larger hybrid system for the Kalgoorlie Super Pit joint ventures that will deliver around 70 per cent share of renewables.

The system will combine 256 megawatts (MW) of wind capacity, 110 MW (ac) of solar capacity, and 138 MW and 300 MWh of battery storage.

The 8 MW Goldwind turbines will trump the 7.8 MW turbines currently being installed at Fortescue’s Nullagine wind project and Neoen’s Narrogin in wind project – both also in Western Australia – as the most powerful in the country.

The Eastern Goldfields Power Project is being built for North Star Resources and its joint venture partners in the Kalgoorlie super pit gold mining operations and related ventures. It will remain connected to the main grid, but will mostly supply the mining operation.

The system is being built because of the cost and unreliability of the existing power supplies, and will be supported by a new dual-fuel thermal plant (gas and diesel), comprising 10 Wärtsilä 20V31DF generator units.

Zenith has been achieving rates of well above 70 per cent for various off-grid mining clients, albeit with much smaller hybrid systems and lower energy needs.

These include rates of 95.7 per cent renewables in the March quarter at the Mt Weld rare earths mine, owned by Lynas Rare Earths which, ironically, is back by anti-renewables campaigner and Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart.

Zenith says the Mt Weld hybrid saved 870,000 litres of diesel in the March quarter, while another installation at the Bellevue Gold mine had achieved 155 hours continuous of “engine off”, running at 100 per cent renewables with wind, solar and storage.

“The national energy debate is often focused on future targets and long-term pathways,” Zenith CEO Hamish Moffat said in a statement last week.

“What these operations demonstrate is that high-renewable energy systems are already operating today at commercial scale in some of the most technically demanding conditions in Australia,” he said.

“These sites have no tolerance for instability or interruption. If high-renewable energy systems can perform reliably in remote mining operations, it broadens the discussion around what is technically and commercially achievable across the wider economy.”

The Kalgoorlie region has been beset by reliability issues because of its dependence on a single transmission line to the state’s main grid, and reliability issues with its thermal generators, which have failed to start and respond on occasions when needed.

The state government is also backing a major big battery project, and looking to support the nascent vanadium mining industry at the same time, and has called for bids for a 50 MW, 500 MWh vanadium flow battery to support the region’s electricity supplies.

The Eastern Goldfields power project will be the biggest wind, solar and hybrid installation of its type in Australia, and will be rivalled – and eventually exceeded – only by the massive wind, solar and battery plans of Fortescue in its iron ore operations in the Pilbara to the north.

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