Rio adds wind to its sails in push to ‘repower’ CQ plants

Rio Tinto has signed Australia’s largest renewable power purchase agreement (PPA) to draw on Windlab’s planned Bungaban wind project to power its Gladstone plants. The deal will see it buy 80 per cent of all power generated from the 1.4GW Bungaban project over 25 years. Coming on top of a PPA announced last month for energy from the Upper Calliope solar farm, Rio Tinto said this would make it the biggest industrial buyer of renewable power in Australia. It was another major step in the work to repower the company’s Gladstone production assets - Boyne aluminium smelter, Yarwun alumina refinery and Queensland Alumina refinery (pictured left), the company said. “This agreement with Windlab builds on our momentum in our work to repower our Gladstone operations and provide a sustainable future for heavy industry in Central Queensland," Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said. “The task remains challenging, but we have a pathway to provide the competitive, firmed power our Gladstone plants need and we are continuing to work hard with all stakeholders, including the Queensland and Australian governments, on getting there." The Bungaban wind energy project, in early development, is planned for a site about 40km from Wandoan, and 290km south-west of Gladstone. Once approved, construction of the Bungaban project is targeted to start in late 2025 and it is expected to produce electricity by 2029. Windlab chief executive officer John Martin said securing the PPA with Riot Tinto was a major milestone for the Bungaban project and a strong signal of the project’s value from the market. “Bungaban is a key transition opportunity that will create up to 600 new Queensland construction jobs and inject around $500 million into the regional economy through local employment, supply and contracting," he said. “The project can be responsibly developed, grid connected and producing enough energy to power the equivalent of 740,000 Queensland homes by 2029, while eliminating about 4 million tonnes of carbon from the state’s generation profile every year.” Rio Tinto said it would continue to engage with potential partners to assess other proposals to help competitively meet the energy needs of its three production assets in the Gladstone region. These assets require more than 1GW of reliable power to operate, which equates to over 4GW of quality wind or solar power with firming. Potential further electrification of plant processes could increase their electricity demand in the future.

Rio adds wind to its sails in push to ‘repower’ CQ plants

Industry Queensland

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