Another big gold mine signs up to wind, solar and battery power deal

Northern Star Resources in northern Western Australia has settled on a 15 year off-grid renewable energy Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with remote power specialist Zenith Energy.

The deal for the miner’s Jundee mining operation in WA’s northern goldfields, is for 24 megawatts (MW) of wind, 16.9 MWp of solar, and 12 MW/13.4 MWh of battery energy storage to provide 56 per cent of the mine site’s power needs.

The project was first flagged in January.

Zenith Energy has targeted the mining sector, which is keen to burnish its social licence, save money on fossil fuels by switching to renewables, and satisfy the growing low carbon supply chain demands of its major customers.

This year the energy company has signed off-grid PPAs with Liontown Resources for its Kathleen Valley project and Bellevue Gold for its name sake mining project.

At Liontown’s Kathleen Valley lithium project Zenith is building the largest off-grid hybrid renewable microgrid in the country, with 30MW of wind and 16MW of solar to be supported by a 17MW/19MWh battery, 27MW of gas generation, and 5MW of diesel standby to deliver 60 per cent of that projects’ energy needs. 

The Bellevue mine will have 85MW of capacity made up of 24MW of wind, 19MW of solar, 15MW/33MWh of battery storage, and 30MW thermal (gas and diesel).

The Liontown and Bellevue PPAs are greenfield developments while Northern Star’s PPA is for an operating mine, with the wind, solar and battery being retrofit and integrated into existing gas power stations.

“Zenith Energy will achieve and exceed its interim net zero milestone of reducing by 20 per cent the carbon intensity of the business by 2025 from our 2020 baseline. A target which includes scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions,” said Zenith Energy CEO Hamish Moffat. 

Northern Star CEO Stuart Tonkin said the deal with Zenith Energy for such a large scale project meant the transition to renewables could be cost effective.

Remote renewables became financially viable for mine sites in 2019, when Zenith installed a 26.6MW hybrid Solar PV and diesel facility at the Nova Nickel‐Copper‐Cobalt Operation in the Fraser Range of Western Australia, operated by the ASX-listed Independence Group NL.

The financial savings generated through avoiding 6,500 litres of diesel a day made the system commercially viable, with the project requiring no government grants or direct support.