Wind turbine parts arrive at “Australia’s largest” off-grid hybrid renewables power system

Construction is forging ahead on what could be Australia’s largest off-grid hybrid renewables power system, a wind solar and battery based microgrid that will slash the fossil fuel use of a WA gold mine by up to 96%.

Renewable microgrid specialist Pacific Energy is adding 24MW of solar, 24MW of wind and a 13MW battery energy storage system to the existing power system at the Tropicana Gold Mine, around 330km northeast of Kalgoorlie.

In a progress update on Tuesday, Pacific Energy said it had marked its first significant project milestones, including completing construction of the wind turbine footings, delivery of wind turbine parts to site, and commissioning of two transformers and a switchroom.

The company is now focusing on its next critical milestones, including energisation of its BESS and solar farm in the coming weeks.

Once complete, the added 61MW of solar, wind and battery capacity will take the microgrid to a total of 115MW, making it the largest hybrid investment in Pacific Energy’s portfolio, and “the largest islanded hybrid power system in Australia.”

“This industry-leading set up will integrate our Pacific Energy-designed intelligent control system to optimise input from the high penetration renewables and storage technologies and allow the system to run hydrocarbons-free for extended periods of time,” the company said on LinkedIn.

For the mine’s owners, Anglogold Ashanti and Regis Resources, the addition of solar and wind will cut diesel and gas consumption at the mine by 96% and 50% respectively, slashing carbon emissions by an average of 65,000 tonnes a year.

“There’s been an enormous amount of work delivered by our specialised teams over the past nine months to help us reach our first milestones,” Pacific Energy said on LinkedIn.

“They’re the people powering the clean energy transition, and we’re immensely proud of them.”