The Australian Government is investing in a South Australian wind farm and grid-scale battery to help power and decarbonise the state’s Olympic Dam copper mine.
The project will create hundreds of regional jobs.
The Government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) will provide $99 million in finance for French renewables company Neoen to develop the second part of the Goyder South Stage 1 Wind Farm.
The wind farm will power BHP’s Olympic Dam copper mine in the far north of South Australia.
Energy from the 203 MW wind farm will be supported by 238.5MW/ 477MWh of storage capacity from Neoen’s Blyth Battery to help the mine meet half its electricity needs, with 70MW of baseload renewable power.
Olympic Dam contains the fourth largest copper deposit in the world. BHP will use the baseload power to unearth more copper critical to global wind turbines, batteries, and solar panels.
The CEFC investment will support:
- 400 construction jobs on the wind farm
- 40 jobs at Blyth Battery
- a further 15 permanent positions expected during operation
