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Alinta Energy has selected EPC contractors for its Port Hedland Solar Battery Hybrid project which will see an initial 45 MW AC solar farm and 30 MW / 30 MWh battery energy storage system installed at its existing gas-fired power station site in the Pilbara region of WA.

CIMIC Group’s UGL was appointed to deliver the BESS while Shanghai Electric Power Design Institute Co and Monford Group Pty Ltd (SEPD Monford) will handle the fixed-tilt solar array, for a total project cost of around $180 million. The project is expected to create around 200 jobs and be operational by late 2024.

The solar/BESS expansion project underpins a power purchase agreement with BHP which is expected to halve emissions from the generation of electricity used to power BHP’s WA iron ore port facilities in Port Hedland.

When fully operational it’s expected that the total forecasted average daytime energy requirements for BHP’s port facilities will be powered by solar generation, with the remaining power requirements to be met via the battery and Alinta Energy’s existing gas-fired power station.

The 210 MW, dual fuel (gas and distillate) Port Hedland Power Station consists of five 42 MW gas-fired turbine units located in two separate locations; two units at the Boodarie Power Station and three units at the Port Hedland Power Station.

Alinta also owns and operates three high voltage transmission lines which connect the facilities at Boodarie and Port Hedland as well as the Horizon Power-owned North West Interconnected System (NWIS).

Alinta has development approvals for the sites that could facilitate a future expansion to a 60 MW / 120 MWh battery storage system and 90 MW AC solar array.

Monford Group built the 132 MW Merredin Solar Farm in the Wheatbelt region of WA, completed in December 2019 and now owned by SUN Energy, and worked on the 102.5 MW AC Yarranlea Solar Farm in Queensland, also built in 2019, and the 11 MW Gullen Range Solar Farm in NSW.

AltEnergy understands this is the first time Monford has partnered with the Shanghai Electric Power Design Institute Co, an affiliate of POWERCHINA, on an Australian renewable energy project.