- Pacific Energy has set up a new office in Victoria to deliver a 26 MW hybrid power system in New South Wales.
- The solar and battery integration will provide up to 40 per cent renewable energy to the mine site’s power supply
Western Australian renewables infrastructure provider Pacific Energy has set up a new office in Victoria to deliver a 26 MW hybrid power system in New South Wales.
Pacific Energy will deliver a hybrid microgrid, including 11 MW of solar generation and a 3 MW / 6 MWh battery energy storage system. This will help power Tronox’s Atlas-Campaspe mining operation near Hatfield in southwest New South Wales (NSW) under an initial 10-year build-own-operate power purchase agreement (PPA).
The new solar and battery storage will be integrated with 12 MW of diesel generation, helping to reduce the mining operation’s diesel usage by nearly five million litres per year and cutting its annual carbon emissions by approximately 13,000 tonnes.
Also, the solar and battery integration will provide up to 40 per cent renewable energy to the mine site’s power supply. The system also includes “hydrocarbons-off functionality,” enabling the site to operate solely on renewable energy when solar power production outweighs mine site load, which the Pacific expects will be most days.
Site works for the Tronox project are anticipated to commence in June 2024, with the power system expected to be operational by mid-2025.
Pacific Chief Executive Jamie Cullen said the system, designed to accommodate future expansion of renewable generation, will allow Tronox to control costs better and manage its environmental footprint.
“By consolidating Tronox’s existing power supply, we can reduce its 41 existing diesel generators to just six, reducing not only its fossil fuel consumption and the associated scope one emissions but also operations and maintenance costs,” he said.
Furthermore, Cullen said the PPA with Tronox marks another critical step in delivering on the company’s East Coast growth strategy, which includes launching a new business unit to meet the growing demand for clean energy solutions.
Moreover, the new division, Melbourne-based Pacific Energy Connected (PEC), will support hydrogen projects nationally and deliver stand-alone power systems, battery storage systems and renewable energy microgrids to the National Electricity Market (NEM), east coast isolated networks and the mobility sector.