Anglogold Ashanti Tropicana renewables project – largest hybrid power system in Australia’s mining sector – completed

AngloGold Ashanti plc has completed its Tropicana renewables project, creating the largest hybrid power system in Australia’s mining sector. Tropicana, located in Western Australia roughly 1 000km east of Perth, is owned by AngloGold Ashanti (70% and manager) and Regis Resources Ltd (30%).

The integration of 61MW of clean energy into the existing power system at the Tropicana mine is expected to reduce diesel and gas consumption for power generation by 96% and 50% respectively, slashing carbon emissions by more than 65 000 tonnes a year on average over the next decade. The project is accretive to Tropicana’s net asset value and has the capacity equivalent to that needed to power between 40 000 and 5 000 average Australian homes each year.

“This project will enable a significant reduction in emissions while reducing both diesel and natural gas consumption and improving our overall security of energy supply,” said AngloGold Ashanti CEO, Alberto Calderon. “It’s especially impressive that this large project, in a remote location, was completed safely, on time and on budget, despite the major disruption caused by last year’s flooding.”

World-class Hybrid Power System

The renewables expansion was designed and constructed by Pacific Energy, which owns and operates the combined renewables-natural gas power station under a 10-year Power Purchase Agreement. Combined, the thermal and renewable power systems will have a capacity of 115MW. The solar component consists of 42 120 panels with 24MW of generation capacity, underpinned by a 13MW battery storage system. The solar farm covers an area roughly the size of 53 FIFA regulation football fields.

The four 6MW wind turbines each measure 130m in height with rotor diameter of 165m, roughly as tall as the London Eye and as wide as one-and-a-half NFL football fields. When fully extended, the blade tip at its highest point would reach about 213m, almost as high as the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge towers in San Francisco.

The Tropicana renewables project will contribute significantly to AngloGold Ashanti’s 2030 decarbonisation target to achieve a 30% reduction in its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions based on its 2021 carbon emissions baseline. It follows a project completed last year to connect the company’s Geita mine in Tanzania to the national electricity grid which is supplied by a significant portion of renewable power, including hydro-electric power.

Source: supplied by AngloGold Ashanti plc