BHP Boosts Offtake From Merredin Solar Farm

A solar power purchase agreement (PPA) between Risen Energy and BHP has been expanded for BHP’s Nickel West operations.

The 132 MW (dc) Merredin Solar Farm is situated approximately 260 kilometres east of Perth in Western Australia’s Central Wheatbelt region. Featuring 354,452 Risen Energy solar panels, it has an estimated output of 274 GWh of electricity annually. Owned and operated by Risen Energy, Merredin was connected to the grid last year.

In February this year, an initial 10-year PPA between Risen and BHP was inked in relation to BHP Nickel West’s Kwinana Refinery involving 20MW of Merredin’s capacity. This will cover up to 50% of the refinery’s electricity use.

Nickel West Kwinana refines granulated nickel matte from BHP’s Kalgoorlie smelter into nickel powder and briquette, which is then exported overseas via the Port of Fremantle. A new plant is nearing completion at Kwinana that will also produce nickel sulphate, which is used in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles.

Yesterday, BHP and Risen announced an additional 30MW from Merredin will be directed to BHP Nickel West’s Kalgoorlie Smelter, which uses a flash furnace to smelt concentrate to produce nickel matte. The PPA covering Kalgoorlie is expected to  reduce the smelter’s Scope 2 emissions by 30%.

“This is another example of the steps we are taking to reduce emissions across our operations – 30 per cent by 2030 and net zero by 2050,” said BHP Nickel West Asset President, Jessica Farrell. ” Sustainable low carbon nickel is essential for our battery and electric vehicle customers.”

More Solar Power For BHP Nickel Operations

In late July, BHP announced two new solar farms and a battery storage system would be constructed to help power its Mt Keith and Leinster operations. The Mt. Keith project will involve a 27.4 MW solar farm and at Leinster, a 10.7 MW solar farm and 10.1 MW battery system. BHP says these projects will reduce emissions from electricity use at the two sites by 12 per cent, based on FY2020 levels.

On a related note, BHP inked a nickel supply agreement with EV and battery system manufacturer Tesla last month. The Tesla Powerwall 2 battery, specifications for which can be found on SolarQuotes’ solar battery comparison table, is based on NMC (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) chemistry.

BHP Nickel West is a fully integrated mine-to-market nickel business with over 2,500 employees and contractors. All its operations are located in Western Australia.

Given the renewable energy and EV revolution, there is plenty of demand for nickel – but major buyers are becoming increasingly conscious of its carbon footprint, particularly in the electric vehicle and energy storage space. BHP claims to be one of the lowest carbon nickel miners in the world.

While on the topic of nickel and solar energy, yesterday we reported South Korean EV battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution has called dibs on all the nickel and cobalt that will be produced by Australian Mines’ proposed Sconi Project in Queensland. The mine will be powered by the nearby 250MW Kidston Pumped Storage and Kidston 270MW Solar Projects.