The APA Group, an Australian energy company, has completed the installation of solar panels at its Port Hedland solar-plus-storage project in Australia.
The project consists of a 45MW solar facility and co-located 35MW/36.7MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Monford Group, an Australian construction company, and the Shanghai Electric Company were both involved in the construction of the project, which the APA Group expects to commission in “late 2024”.
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The APA Group’s work also includes a 1km cable to connect the project to the existing Port Hedland Power Station, and extending an existing switchyard at the power station to accommodate the new facilities.
The installation of panels is an important milestone for a project that has been making headlines for several years. The project was initially developed by Australian utility Alinta, which signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to sell power generated at the project to Australian mining giant BHP, and selected CIMIC Group subsidiary UGL to design, test and commission the BESS at the project in 2023.
The APA Group acquired Alinta in 2023, and has continued development at the project, which, if it is as productive as the developers expect, will power the daytime operations of BHP’s processing and exporting facilities at Port Hedland, on the north coast of Australia.
The port is one of the busiest in the global iron sector, with around 48.5 million tonnes of iron ore leaving Port Hedland for China alone in June of this year, a 6.28% increase over June of the previous year.
The milestone is the latest positive development for the Australian solar sector, which has around 5.5GW of projects currently in development, according to the latest figures from the Australian Clean Energy Council (CEC).
