Shipload of turbine blades arrives at WA port, to help power remote gold mine

A shipload of wind turbine blades is on its way the site of a remote gold mine around 40km north of Leinster in Western Australia, where four wind turbines will help power the mine’s operations alongside 528 5B Maverick solar arrays.

Zenith Energy, which is building the remote hybrid renewable energy system for the Bellevue Gold Project, said on Monday that the blades for four, 6 megawatt (MW) Goldwind wind turbines had arrived at Geraldton Port, marking a key milestone for the 88MW power station.

Zenith has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement to finance, build, own, and operate the power project, which includes 24MW of wind, 26MW of solar and battery storage to supply up to 80% of the gold mine’s energy needs from renewables.

The huge turbine blades, pictured above and in the video below, will now make the more than 600km journey from the port in Geraldton to the site in WA’s Sir Samuel region, where they will be installed alongside the solar array, also pictured below.

“Once operational, the station will further enable Bellevue Gold Mine to operate on up to 100% renewable energy during optimal conditions, supporting their goal to become Australia’s first carbon-neutral gold producer and furthering our commitment to sustainable, off-grid energy for the resources sector,” the LinkedIn post says.

The mine is one of a rapidly increasing number, around Australia, that are turning to a mix of renewables and battery storage to help power their operations, decarbonise their commodities and slash diesel energy costs.

For Zenith, this includes a hybrid solar and battery system at IGO’s Nova nickel-copper-cobalt operation in the WA Goldfields, which was boosted in 2022 to equip it to go “engine off” for the diesel generator for up to nine hours at a time.

Fellow remote renewable energy system specialist Pacific Energy has also been busy greening up mine power supplies, including AngloGold Ashanti Australia’s Tropicana gold mine, where Pacific Energy is adding 24MW of solar, 24MW of wind and a 13MW battery energy storage system to the existing power system at the site, around 330km northeast of Kalgoorlie.