Pacific Energy to Build 35MW Solar Farm for Gold Fields Mine 

Pacific Energy, an Australian distributed energy provider, has secured a contract to design and build a 35MW solar farm for Gold Fields at its St Ives gold mine in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.

St Ives Renewables Project to Cut Carbon Emissions

The St Ives Renewables Project—valued at AU$296 million (US$198.51 million)—will include a solar farm and a 42MW wind farm, which are being developed simultaneously. The project will supply over 70% of the mine’s energy from renewable sources and is expected to cut its carbon emissions by approximately 50% by 2030.

“Gold Fields is taking firm steps to significantly reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, and we’re committed to helping them achieve this. Our engineers have factored in scalability to the solar design so that Gold Fields could expand its solar contribution almost immediately if it needed to,” said Jamie Cullen, chief executive of Pacific Energy. “A key lesson we’ve learned over the years is that the design needs to be flexible and account for the rapid changes we’re seeing in the renewable energy transition.”

Pacific Energy Partners with Horizon Power for 20-Year Solar PPA

Pacific Energy has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Horizon Power—Western Australia’s state energy provider—to supply Exmouth with 80% renewable energy from solar PV in the Gascoyne region. The project involves a new hybrid system that includes a 9.6MW solar farm, a 49.6MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), and a 7MW gas power station.

Pacific Energy plans to begin civil work on the solar PV power plant in November, with full operation anticipated by 2026.

Pacific Energy Expands Portfolio with New Hybrid Systems for Westgold

Perth-based Pacific Energy, which completed a $350 million debt facility in April, has constructed 93 power stations with a total capacity exceeding 1.1GW. The company has over 900MW under contract across diverse generation sources, including solar, wind, battery, diesel, and gas.

Recent projects include four hybrid solar, battery, and gas systems with a combined capacity of 82MW, completed for four Westgold-operated goldmines in Western Australia: Tuckabianna, Bluebird, Fortnum, and Big Bell.

In August, the company added 24MW of solar, 24MW of wind, and a 13MW battery energy storage system to the existing power system at the Tropicana Gold Mine, about 330km northeast of Kalgoorlie. Once complete, these additions will boost the microgrid’s total capacity to 115MW, making it Pacific Energy’s largest hybrid investment and Australia’s largest islanded hybrid power system.

For the mine’s owners, AngloGold Ashanti and Regis Resources, these new solar and wind additions will reduce diesel consumption by 96% and gas consumption by 50%.

Across Gold Fields’ wider operations, six of its ten mines and projects are now partially powered by renewable electricity. This includes the Agnew gold mine in Western Australia, which already derives over half of its power from wind, solar, and battery sources.