Remote gold mine sources 88 pct of its power needs in last quarter from wind, solar and battery

The off-grid Bellevue Gold mine in a remote part of Western Australia, host to one of the country’s highest grade gold reserves, says it has achieved an average of 87.8 per cent renewables over the last three months from its newly installed wind, solar and battery facilities.

The ASX-listed Bellevue Gold says the achievement – which included more than 100 hours of “engine off” – burning no fossil fuels – meant that it achieved its target of reaching net zero for its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions in 2025, the first in the world to do so.

Bellevue’s efforts come primarily through its newly installed 90-megawatt (MW) hybrid power station, featuring four wind turbines with a combined capacity of 24 MW, a 27 MW solar farm, a battery energy storage system (BESS) of 15 MW/33-megawatt-hours (MWh), as well as 24 MW of thermal generation.

The energy facility is owned and operated by off-grid power specialist Zenith Energy, and was completed in mid July with the addition of the last of the four wind turbines.

The results have been spectacular. Even before the final turbines were completed, however, the Bellevue mine was making headlines, running for 58 hours on 100 per cent renewable energy in June.

This was followed in August with a milestone 84 consecutive hours without any fossil fuel generation, which it beat in November with 101 consecutive hours of fossil-free power generation.

These milestones were accompanied by huge monthly shares of the gold mine’s power coming from renewable energy – 78 per cent in July, 88 per cent in August, 91 per cent in September, 88 per cent in October and November, and 87 per cent in December.

Overall, renewable energy accounted for 87.8 per cent of power generated at the mine in the last quarter of 2025 and puts the company on track to meet the upper end of the forecasted 80-90 per cent renewable energy for the financial year 2026.

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