Mining company Rio Tinto will buy solar power and battery storage capacity for its Gladstone aluminium operations in a deal environmentalists have hailed as a “major step” forward.
The company has signed 20-year agreements with Edify Energy to buy 90% of the power and battery storage capacity generated by the Smoky Creek and Guthrie’s Gap solar stations, located in central Queensland, Rio Tinto said.
Kellie Parker, chief executive of Rio Tinto, said the agreements would provide “affordable, reliable and low carbon energy for decades to come”, as traditional energy sources became more expensive.
Together with existing wind and solar agreements, renewable energy was now expected to meet 80% of the Boyne smelter’s electricity needs, the company said, reducing the facility’s direct emissions by 70%, equivalent to 5.6m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
Construction on the projects, located 75km south of Rockhampton, was expected…
