Rio Tinto Inks Power Deal With European Energy for Giant Australia Solar Farm

By Rhiannon Hoyle

Rio Tinto said Wednesday it has agreed to buy electricity from the planned Upper Calliope solar farm in eastern Australia to power its Gladstone operations, underpinning development of Australia's largest solar farm and marking another step toward curtailing its carbon emissions in the years ahead.

The Anglo-Australian miner, which is seeking to halve its global Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions this decade, said it has signed a power purchase agreement with developer European Energy to buy all power generated from the more-than 1 gigawatt Upper Calliope solar farm for 25 years.

It said the solar farm could help power Rio Tinto's three Gladstone production assets, the Boyne aluminium smelter, the Yarwun alumina refinery and the Queensland Alumina refinery.

The solar farm, construction of which is targeted in 2025 or 2026, could lower Rio Tinto's operating carbon emissions by 1.8 million metric tons a year, the miner said.

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 23, 2024 17:00 ET (22:00 GMT)

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