Fortescue kicks off construction of WA’s biggest solar farm in hell for leather push to 2030 emissions target

Fortescue has turned the sod on a massive new solar farm in the Pilbara in the latest of a raft of new energy projects to get the Andrew Forrest-led miner to its 2030 emissions deadline. With approximately 671,000 panels and a capacity of 440 megawatts, the new Solomon Airport solar farm is set to be the largest in the State once completed in 2028. The hub will account for about a third of the total solar power the miner needs to achieve it’s self-appointed “Real-Zero” — without the use of offsets — emissions target across its primary iron ore operations by 2030. It’s one of several energy projects Fortescue has on the go to get there in the coming years, with construction of a solar farm at Cloudbreak about two-thirds complete, and building of a 644MW solar farm at Turner River set to start later this year. A 133 megawatt wind farm in Nullagine that will feature 17 turbines supplied by Envision Energy is also being delivered, and the Bonney Downs wind farm is before WA’s Environmental Protection Authority. About $US426 million of Fortescue’s $US1.6 billion capital expenditure during the six months to December went to solar and wind projects as well as new electric haul trucks and battery-electric locomotives. Fortescue Metals chief executive Dino Otranto affirmed there would be economic benefit to its operating costs by switching from diesel to electric, telling analysts during a half-year update in February that could be between $2 and $4 a tonne of iron ore. “As technology improves and we gain scale, our installed capital intensity continues to come down – strengthening the economics of replacing diesel and gas with renewable energy,” he said on Monday. Oil prices have rocketed over the past week and are likely to flow through to the mining industry. After considerable delays, Fortescue started phasing out the diesel trains used to shift its iron ore from mine to port last month. The miner has commissioned two battery-electric locomotives on its expansive rail network, a move the miner hopes will eliminate about one million litres of diesel a year. The saving is still a fraction of the approximately 80 million litres of diesel Fortescue’s rail operations go through in a year. Fortescue shares last changed hands at $18.69.