First Solar, Rio Tinto and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) together announced that Australia's first commercial diesel displacement solar plant has successfully commenced commercial operation at a remote mine. The Weipa Solar Plant will generate electricity for Rio Tinto's Weipa bauxite mine, processing facilities and township on the Western Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia.

Rio Tinto general manager, Weipa Operations, Gareth Manderson said "This power purchase arrangement is an opportunity to trial the introduction of an alternative power source such as a solar plant into a remote electrical network like the one here in Weipa.”

The solar plant is expected to produce an average of 2800 MWh of electricity per year. At peak output, the 1.7MW solar plant has the capacity to generate sufficient electricity to support up to 20% of the township's daytime electricity demand. It is expected to reduce the diesel usage at Weipa's power stations and save up to 600,000 liters of diesel each year, which can be translated into around 1,600 tons of CO2 emission reduction per year.

The electricity connected to Rio Tinto's existing mini-grid will be purchased by Rio Tinto under a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement. ARENA offers an initial $3.5 million for this early mover project and up to $7.8 million is available for the second phase.

"It is already widely acknowledged that solar electricity is typically cheaper than diesel-powered electricity, particularly in remote locations," said Jack Curtis, First Solar's Regional Manager for Asia Pacific. "The significance of the Weipa Solar Plant is that it provides the opportunity to demonstrate that PV-diesel hybrid projects can also be as reliable as stand-alone diesel-powered generation."

First Solar's FuelSmart™ solutions combine PV generation with a fossil fuel engine generator to provide optimal fuel savings while maintaining system reliability. In recent years, attention has been focused on the technical challenges of high-penetration PV-diesel hybrids. At the Weipa Solar Plant, First Solar is seeking to deliver a reliable electricity supply without diverting capital costs away from Rio Tinto's critical mine operations.

“Proving this commercial model has the potential to be a watershed moment for the diesel hybrid application globally," said Mr Curtis.

ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht congratulated First Solar and Rio Tinto on achieving this Australian first, which has the potential to bolster the mining industry's confidence in renewable energy as a reliable off-grid power source.

Contingent on the success of phase one, the project partners have the option of entering into a second phase that would include a storage component and an output capacity up to 6.7MW.

(Photo Credit: Rio Tinto)