Energy Storage, Commercial, Distributed Generation, Solar  -  August 29, 2024

Gold Fields' Australia Mine Expands Solar Capacity

Gold Fields has been decarbonizing its Granny Smith mine in Western Australia and is expanding its efforts by adding more solar capacity and BESS. 

In 2024, Aggreko is set to expand a solar farm and BESS to further reduce the carbon intensity of Granny Smith mine and the overall power cost for Gold Fields.

Once expanded, the gold mine will have a total of 19 MW of solar capacity and 9 MW/4.5 MWh of BESS capacity installed.  This will result in a renewable energy fraction of approximately 21%, saving 443,304GJ of gas and 22,843 tons of CO2 emissions annually.   

Aggreko began the process nearly eight years ago by replacing the existing diesel power station with a high-speed, gas-fueled reciprocating engine station.

In 2019, Aggreko added 7.7 MWp solar and 2 MW/1 MWh BESS of renewable generation. 

The solar farm expansion comes ahead of Gold Fields' pre-feasibility study investigating how it could go on to generate 75% of Granny Smith’s energy requirements from renewable sources, including increased solar, a larger battery, and a wind farm later in the decade.

“The expanded hybrid power station not only makes our operation more cost efficient and improves energy reliability, but it also demonstrates our commitment to accelerate renewable usage across all Gold Fields sites,” said General Manager of Granny Smith, Mark Glazebrook, in a statement. “This is a great step forward in Granny Smith’s decarbonisation journey as we seek to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and deliver on our ESG commitments”.

In 2019, Granny Smith was one of the first mines in Australia to add renewable generation, establishing Aggreko as a market leader in microgrid hybridization. Since being operational, the solar farm and BESS has produced approximately 48 GWh of clean energy, preventing 25 million tons of CO2 emissions.