Solar, Sourcing Renewables, Wind  -  July 26, 2021

Rio Tinto Inks Deal for Solar+Wind in Madagascar

Rio Tinto announced July 26 an agreement with a solar-plus-wind facility that will power the operations of its QMM mine in Fort Dauphin, Southern Madagascar.

The mining company completed a 20-year PPA with CrossBoundary Energy to receive power from a facility that generates 8 MW of solar and 12 MW of wind from 18,000 solar panels and up to nine wind turbines. The plant also includes a lithium-ion battery energy storage system that has a capacity of 8.25 MW.

The facility will supply all of QMM’s electricity demand during peak generation times and up to 60% of the operations’ annual energy consumption.

The sourcing of this renewable energy will help Rio Tinto in its pursuit of carbon neutrality by 2023.

Construction of the solar plant should begging this and it should be operational at the beginning of 2022, while work on the wind plant will begin in early 2022 and it should be operational by the end of 2022.

“This project is a strong example of our commitment with the Government of Madagascar to the sustainable development of the region,” QMM President Ny Fanja Rakotomalala said in a statement. “On a sunny and windy day, all the electricity needed by QMM and the Fort Dauphin community will be generated by the Malagasy sun and wind. It is a major step forward on our journey towards a truly sustainable mine, that protects and promotes the uniqueness of Madagascar’s environment and benefits the community with reliable and clean electricity.”

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