Over the weekend we reached an incredible milestone in the development of Kathleen Valley’s 95MW hybrid power station. The 16MW solar farm, 18MW battery energy storage system and the first three of the five 6MW wind turbines have been commissioned and are now collectively powering our accommodation village and process plant with renewable energy, in addition to the diesel and gas generation that were brought online earlier this year.

With just the solar farm and three of the five turbines now operational, the power station already has the renewable capacity to power the equivalent of over 10,000 WA homes.

The hybrid power station at Kathleen Valley has 46MW of emissions-free power generation capacity and is expected to be one of the largest off-grid wind-solar-battery storage renewable energy facilities in the mining industry in Australia. It also includes a thermal power component comprising 27MW of gas generation and 5MW of diesel standby generation. The thermal components are designed to operate in “engine off” mode in times of high wind and solar resource, enabling us to operate from 100% renewable energy during those periods.

Our aim from the very start was to operate with the lowest possible carbon footprint. We are proud to be powering our world-class project with renewable energy ahead of first production.

With testing and commissioning of the remaining two wind turbines underway, we are on track to power Kathleen Valley with over 60% renewable power from start-up. Thank you to our energy partner, Zenith Energy, for their dedication to making our vision of a low-carbon operation a reality.