Australia’s Rio Tinto said on Monday it has agreed to develop an 80 megawatt (MW) solar farm to facilitate the supply of renewable energy to its operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The solar farm could displace up to 11% of natural gas currently used for generation across Rio’s integrated mining operations in the Pilbara, Rio said.
The project has the potential to reduce the miner’s emissions by up to 120 kiloton carbon dioxide emissions per year once complete, it added.
A feasibility study for the solar project, which is expected to be located next to Rio’s existing Yurralyi Maya Power Station near Karratha, will wrap up in early 2025, with commissioning to take place in 2027.
Approximately 600MW to 700MW of renewable energy will be required by 2030 to displace the majority of gas use across Rio’s Pilbara power network, Rio projects, pressurized by further energy requirements to support fleet electrification across its portfolio, which is expected after 2030.
Shares in the miner rose as much as 1% by 0426 GMT, in tandem with a 1% rise in the Aussie mining sub-index.
(By Roushni Nair; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
