The company will buy 80% of electricity generated at Windlab’s planned 1.4 gigawatt Bungaban wind farm in Queensland, Australia. — Reuters
London: Rio Tinto Group struck Australia’s largest pact for the supply of renewable energy as it aims to decarbonise aluminium assets that account for the largest share of the miner’s direct emissions.
The company will buy 80% of electricity generated at billionaire Andrew Forrest-owned Windlab Pty’s planned 1.4 gigawatt Bungaban wind farm in Queensland, Australia.
Rio will use the pact to power the Boyne aluminium smelter and Yarwun and Queensland alumina refineries, the world’s No. 2 miner said yesterday in a statement.
Rio’s deal with Windlab follows an agreement last month with European Energy A/S for clean power from a solar farm in Queensland state.
“The task remains challenging, but we have a pathway to provide the competitive, firmed power our Gladstone plants need,” Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said in the statement. The Bungaban project is expected to deliver power by 2029.
Aluminium production is energy intensive and regarded as among the hardest-to-abate parts of heavy industry.
Direct emissions from Rio’s operations totalled about 21.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022, according to company filings. — Bloomberg
