Mining major Rio Tinto expects to cut scope 2 carbon emissions at its Amrun bauxite operation in Queensland, Australia, by up to 10% with 12.4MW of new solar power and 8.8MW of battery storage.
Aggreko, which won a A$100 million contract to build a 20MW “high-efficiency diesel power system” at Amrun in the Weipa area back in 2017, is going to build, own and operate the new solar farm and 2.1MWh battery energy storage system (BESS). The latter will supplement the diesel generators.
No contract value was announced for the solar/BESS project.
“Once operational, Aggreko’s 12.4MW solar farm and BESS are expected to reduce Amrun’s diesel electricity consumption by 37% or approximately 5.5 million litres of diesel fuel per year,” Aggreko said.
“This will reduce annual CO2 emissions by approximately 14,000 tonnes which is the equivalent of taking 3100 internal combustion engine cars off the road.”
The supplier said early works had started on the Amrun solar farm, which was expected to be operational by early 2025.
