Sydney-headquartered energy infrastructure company APA Group will now move to electrical and commissioning phases of its Western Australia Port Hedland 45 MW solar farm following completion of its mechanical and module installation.
Located near the Port Hedland Power Station, over 1,500 kilometres north of Perth, the solar farm is 14 kilometres from mining giant’s BHP’s port facilities and is forecast to power 100% of its average daytime energy requirements.
The solar farm features 119,056 solar panels and can withstand winds of 288 kilometres per hour, in a region regarded as the most cyclone prone in Australia.
New infrastructure specially built for the project also includes a 1-kilometre 33 kV cable to the existing Port Hedland power station and extending the power station’s 66 kV switchyard for the new generation project.
The Western Australian government committed $1.5 million (USD 1 million) toward the project’s 35 MW / 36.7 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) as part of its Clean Energy Future Fund (CEFF).
The BESS will replace spinning reserve provided by the adjacent gas-fired power station (via burning gas), with energy stored in the battery to provide instant support to the grid when needed.
Module installation has been completed by Perth-headquartered construction company Monford Group and China-headquartered energy equipment manufacturer Shanghai Electric Group.
Image: Monford Group
The APA Group has a $3 billion development pipeline to deliver approximately 1 GW of new renewable energy capacity to help decarbonise large mining operations in the Pilbara.
Mining companies BHP, Roy Hill and Rio Tinto have committed to targets of net zero by 2050 and FMG is targeting real operational emissions by 2030.
The APA Group expects the renewable energy generation required in the Pilbara to be 14.8 TWh and currently has 692 MW of renewable energy assets and 884 MW of gas-fired generation assets within its existing $26 billion portfolio.
These include the 60 MW Chichester solar farm supplying mining company FMG’s Christmas Creek mine, 390 kilometres southeast of Port Hedland, comprising 167,000 panels, which was funded with $107 million through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
Chichester solar farm provides up to 100% of FMG’s daytime energy and has been in commercial operation since 2021.
A 35 MW BESS adjacent to the gas-fired Newman power station, located 450 kilometres southeast of Port Hedland provides flexible power supply to FMG and Roy Hill-owned mines.
APA Group also operates high-voltage electricity transmission assets connecting Victoria with South Australia, New South Wales with Queensland and Tasmania to Victoria.
In November 2023, the APA Group acquired the Pilbara Energy System from Hong Kong-based electricity generator and gas retailer Alinta Energy in which Port Hedland solar farm and BESS will be integrated.
Image: Monford Group
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