BHP adds solar panels to nickel ops

Diversified miner BHP on Friday reported that it would build two solar farms and a battery storage system to help power the Mt Keith and Leinster nickel operations. The Northern Goldfields solar project would include a 27.4 MW solar farm at Mt Keith and a 10.7 MW solar farm and 10.1 MW battery at Leinster, and would displace power currently supplied by diesel and gas turbine generation. This would result in an estimated reduction of 540 000 t of carbon dioxide equivalent over the first 10 years of operation, BHP said.