Big caps zip to net zero with Zenith

As we move into 2025, the net zero goalposts don’t seem so far away. With the energy transition milestone fast approaching, mining needs to dig into its reserves, potentially its renewable ones, to advance past the final hurdles. But what are net zero goals actually asking mining companies to achieve?

Australia’s net zero target defines the floor for the country’s emissions ambitions as a 43% reduction below 2005 levels by 2030. The target additionally defines a multi-year emissions budget from 2021 to 2030.

According to the Federal Government’s 2023 emissions projections, Australia is set to achieve a 37% reduction on 2005 levels by 2030, meaning additional measures are needed to reach the target. If mining — which accounts for 10% of the country’s total energy use, according to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency — can throw its weight in the right direction, it may be the push Australia needs to propel itself over the line.

Mining companies won’t have to carry this load alone, with the help of independent power producers who are pioneering the rollout of renewable microgrids. At the centre of the renewable microgrid movement is Zenith Energy, who has been contracted to provide renewable energy solutions for major miners since 2008.

The Australian Mining Review speaks with Zenith Energy managing director Hamish Moffat to understand how the company has been working behind the scenes to enable big caps — including Bellevue Gold (ASX: BGL), IGO (ASX: IGO), Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR), Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) and Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) — to meet emissions reduction targets.

Mr Moffat says we can’t meet our net zero targets without renewables.

“My belief is that we can’t get there without renewable microgrids playing a vital role in the energy transition,” he said.

“There’s going to be further demand for electricity as we electrify operations right across mining and industrial applications.

“We have to have that infrastructure in place to support the transition.”

Zenith is hoping the work it’s doing across Australia’s mining industry will serve as a tried-and-tested template of what can be done for other industries and geographies.

“If we can provide the solution in these demanding applications where you have to have security of supply, then there’s a lower burden in some of those grid-connected industrial applications where you’ve got backup supply from the grid,” he said.

“We already have micro grids attached to the South West Interconnected System here in WA, and they are industrial, commercial and residential micro grids.

“We’re taking the technology that we’ve built in our remote resources business and now applying that to the broader market in these industrial and residential microgrids.”

But why have so many of Australia’s biggest miners turned to Zenith to provide this solution? Mr Moffat says its because of the company’s collegiate approach.

“We are very collegiate in the way that we come up with our solutions for the client,” he said.

“It’s about sitting down with the client and listening to them, to learn and understand what they’re trying to achieve with anything that you do.

“There are obviously multiple paths to getting there, so it’s around optimisation of that solution to meet that customer’s requirements.

“There are other competitors in the space, but I’d go as far as saying that I think we are the leaders in the energy transition as far as actual deployment of these solutions.

“The other thing that’s worth noting is that the clients that we have are very forward looking.

“They already have commitments around decarbonisation and net zero objectives that they’ve publicly stated.

“They’re actively looking at ways that they can achieve that guide path to decarbonisation and net zero.”

Going above and beyond at Bellevue

Zenith Energy’s hybrid power station for Bellevue Gold enables “engine off” operations, meaning the project can run entirely on renewable energy during favourable conditions, meeting about 80% of its energy needs through renewables.

“This is amongst the highest renewable energy fraction projects, certainly in an island of application in the country at the moment,” says Mr Moffat.

“As a result, there were a number of unique challenges that we had to address to get that project to completion.

“We had to integrate with [Bellevue]; we had to understand what their forward look was as far as those operations to make sure we had a solution that was going to cater to that.”

Now, Zenith is looking for opportunities to increase the renewable energy fraction even more.

“The first port of call is around yield, so making sure that we’re getting maximum yield off the assets that we’re deploying,” says Mr Moffat.

“Principally, we’re looking at yield off solar and wind.

“Optimisation of battery energy storage is another very important factor to continuing to increase that renewable energy fraction.

“We’re now looking at alternate battery energy storage technology so that we can further extend the periods that we operate on renewable energy and increase that renewable energy fraction.

“All of our thermal — which is gas with the diesel backup — solar, battery, energy storage and synchronous condensers are all commissioned and operable on operation.

“Our four, 6MW wind turbines are going in and they will be commissioned in Q1 of 2025.”

Integrating IGO

At IGO’s Nova nickel mine in WA, Zenith had to deliver a 5.5MW PV solar power station that could operate in parallel with the existing 19MW diesel-fuelled power station.

Mr Moffat says this is the first project in the country that has been able to run “engine off” on 100% renewables.

“Nova was unique because we integrated the two solutions to run seamlessly,” he said.

“If we had the solar resource available, then we were inserting solar energy to meet the client’s demand and turning down the diesel technology.

“We have some very unique capability and technology sets within even that diesel solution there that enable us to turn that down and not lose any material efficiency of the diesel generation, which is what made that project particularly attractive to IGO.”

Leading the pack at Liontown Resources

The recent unveiling of Liontown Resources’ Kathleen Valley hybrid power system marks a pivotal moment in the realisation of renewable energy at mine sites. The 95MW power system is the largest operating off-grid power system in Australia, featuring the nation’s largest off-grid wind farm which utilises the largest land-based wind turbines in the country.

This integrated solar farm, wind farm, battery and firming LNG power plant will enable Liontown to operate with a minimum 60% emissions-free energy at its Goldfields hard rock lithium mine in WA.

Mr Moffat says this integrated renewable energy solution demonstrates Zenith Energy’s leadership in the energy transition and the glide path for mining operations to achieve net zero.

“Liontown set out with a clear goal from the start at Kathleen Valley — to operate with the lowest possible carbon footprint — and Zenith Energy is proud to be providing a market-leading solution and its strategic energy partner for this landmark project,” he said.

“It is a credit to everyone involved that Kathleen Valley not only set a new benchmark in the energy transition for Australia’s off-grid mining sector, but that it has also catalysed power purchase agreements for multiple other similar high fraction renewable energy hybrid power systems in the sector.”

Renewables on renewables at Lynas Rare Earths

With the help of Zenith, Lynas Rare Earths is transitioning from diesel to a hybrid gas and renewable energy solution at its Mt Weld rare earths project in WA. The goal is to cover up to 70% of the project’s energy needs with renewable energy by 2026, reducing its reliance on diesel and lowering emissions, according to Zenith.

“This is a high renewable energy fraction project, again, right at the top end of the market,” says Mr Moffat.

“We’ve employed the IP that we developed across our renewable energy generation, our battery energy storage and most importantly, our control systems, because it’s our control systems that enable us to integrate all these disparate technologies and make them operate essentially as one power solution.

“We’ve already got the temporary diesel running to support the construction program at site.

“We will have our permanent thermal station up and operable by Q1 2025. The solar and the battery energy storage system [BESS] will come on in Q3 2025 and the wind farm will commence commercial operations by Q1 2026.”

Retrofitting Northern Star Resources

Zenith’s work at Northern Star Resources’ Jundee operation in WA, involves a battery retrofit and requires integration into an existing gas power station. This renewable energy retrofit has positioned Zenith as a key player in reducing carbon intensity across the mining sector.

Zenith’s hybrid system is expected to meet 56% of the project’s energy needs through renewable sources, significantly cutting emissions for Northern Star.

“This project essentially has 43MW of thermal, which is gas in this instance, and that’s a natural gas, not a liquefied natural gas solution,” says Mr Moffat.

“There’s 17MW of solar that has been retrofitted, a 12MWh BESS and we will have 24MW of wind [supported by] four six-megawatt wind turbines.”

Zenith is commissioning the last of the wind turbines now and expects hybrid operations to commence before the end of CY24.