BHP Australian nickel operation secures clean power from Italy's Enel

Matsa Resources

06/04/2022 08:11

MELBOURNE, April 6 (Reuters) - BHP Group  BHP.AX  has lined
up a contract for wind power from Italy's Enel Green Power to
meet all the electricity requirements of two of its Nickel West
operations in Western Australia, boosting the green credentials
of its nickel.
    Enel  ENEI.MI  said on Wednesday the 12-year purchase pact
would underpin construction of its A$200 million ($151 million)
Flat Rocks Wind Farm Stage 1. BHP is its first customer for the
30-year project.
    The wind farm's annual output of 315 gigawatt hours a year 
would be the equivalent of all the power requirements of Nickel
West's Kalgoorlie smelter and concentrator from 2024.
    "We are taking great strides in making our operations more
sustainable and strengthening BHP's position as a nickel
supplier of choice to global customers," BHP Nickel West
President Jessica Farrell said in a statement.
    BHP signed a pact last year to buy up to half the power
needs of its Nickel West refinery in Kwinana from a Risen
Energy-owned solar farm in Western Australia. It also has a 
purchase pact with the Northern Goldfields solar project in the
state.
    The three power deals combined would reduce Nickel West's
total greenhouse gas emissions from its energy supply, so-called
Scope 2 emissions, by nearly 60% from an FY2020 baseline
starting in 2024, based on forecast demand.
        
 ($1 = 1.3210 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Sonali.Paul@thomsonreuters.com; +61 407 119 523;))