Western Australia, 2023​

Northern Goldfields Solar and Battery Storage Facility

A collaboration between mining giant, BHP, and renewable energy provider TansAlta has produced one of the world’s largest off-grid mining solar and battery energy storage systems - The Northern Goldfields Solar and Battery Storage Facility. ​

Comprising a 27.4 MWdc solar farm at Mt Keith and a 10.7 MWdc solar farm with a 10.1 MWac/5.4MWh battery system at Leinster, the facility is a beacon of sustainability in the mining industry, reducing BHP's Scope 2 emissions by an impressive 12%. Its success underscores the increasing confidence of mining corporations, like BHP, in adopting hybrid energy solutions involving solar and storage, to power their operations.

For the project, SMA delivered advanced inverter functionalities to the JUWI Group, the EPC specialist for the project, for both Leinster and Mt Keith solar farms. Leinster contains three Sunny Central 4200 UP inverters in Medium Voltage Power Station 4200 S2 skids, and Mt Keith with six. In addition to the solar generation, Leinster also boasts four Sunny Central Storage 2900 in Medium Voltage Power Station 2900 S2 skids, supplied by SMA subsidiary, SMA Altenso.

SMA’s successful collaboration with the JUWI Group, and TransAlta demonstrates the important role that partnerships play in delivering innovative renewable solutions.​