Rio Tinto starts commissioning Gudai-Darri solar farm, and Tom Price battery

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto will soon begin operations at its first solar farm after the 34MW Gudai-Darri (Koodaideri) project began commissioning over the weekend.

Rio Tinto opened its new Gudai-Darri iron ore mine in the eastern Pilbara in June, billed as “the company’s most technologically advanced iron ore mine” and featuring autonomous trucks, trains, and drills.

The 34MW solar farm, which will be joined on the local network by a big battery, will power one-third of the average electricity needs of the Gudai-Darri mine and up to all its daytime electricity needs on occasions.

The big battery – sized at 45MW and 12MWh and hailed as the biggest not connected to a major grid – is located at Tom Price on the same network and will act as a “virtual synchronous machine” which will allow that network to operate with 100 per cent renewables at times, without the need for spinning machines.

That battery is also going through the commissioning process.

The Gudai-Darri solar farm is located not far from the 60MW Chichester solar farm which is helping power two iron ore mines owned by Fortescue Metals, although they are located on a different network connected to the Mt Newman gas generator and battery.

Balance Services Group – one of two companies, along with NRW, contracted to deliver and install the project – announced over the weekend that it had “walked all 1,000 trackers which marks the electrical construction verification completion” at the Gudai-Darri solar farm.

The solar farm is being connected to the Rio Tinto grid at the nearby substation via a 6-kilometre-long overhead powerline and fibre-optic link.

The project is part of Rio Tinto’s larger commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of their operations and target of reaching net zero emission by 2050.