German renewable power company BayWa r.e. has completed the construction of a 200MW solar PV project in the US state of Nevada, and handed over operations of the project to US miner Nevada Gold Mines.
The German firm completed construction work, including electrical work at the project and solar module installation, and managed a total of 200,000 local labour-hours across the project’s construction. The solar plant covers 1,500 acres in northern Nevada, and was built in two phases, commissioned in December 2023 and June 2024 respectively, ahead of its transition to Nevada Gold Mines’ management.
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“Nevada is committed to clean energy, and BayWa r.e. could not be more excited about having expanded our footprint in the state and created new jobs for Nevada families,” said Bradley Ferrell, CEO at BayWa r.e. Power Solutions, Inc. “We are excited that our renewable energy expertise will help produce large scale green energy in the state of Nevada.”
Nevada Gold Mines is a joint venture between mining giants Barrick and Newmont, and has an annual production capacity of 1.8 million ounces of gold, from a reserve pool of 29.2 million proven and probably gold reserves. The ribbon cutting ceremony at the Bawya r.e.-built project was attended by a number of Barrick executives, including president and CEO Mark Bristow, and the news follows increasing attention from the mining industry in solar power generation.
Earlier this year, mining giant Rio Tinto announced plans to build two 5.25MW solar plants in Australia’s Northern Territory, while Liontown Resources has commissioned its 95MW solar-wind hybrid power plant, for use at a battery metals mine in Western Australia. BayWa r.e. expects its latest project to meet 17% of Nevada Gold Mines’ annual electricity demand.
Commissioning the Tarquinia park in Italy
Meanwhile, in Italy, BayWa r.e. has commissioned its 51.4MW Tarquinia solar park in the Lazio region of the country’s west coast. Unlike the Nevada project, BayWa r.e. will continue to provide operations and maintenance (O&M) work at the project, and the facility includes a number of measures to minimise its damaging environmental impacts, such as the construction of an artificial pond to “promote aquatic microhabitats”.
The project is BayWa r.e’s latest investment into the Italian renewable energy space, having reached a milestone of 9GW of power generation capacity currently under development earlier this year, two of which will be built in Lazio. The news also follows significant investment into the Italian PV space in particular, with Enfinity Global investing €500 million (US$547.59 million) into a new solar portfolio in the country over the summer.
“The completion of the Tarquinia solar park represents a crucial step in our efforts to drive the energy transition in Italy,” said Alessandra Toschi, managing director of BayWa r.e. Italy. “This project demonstrates that it is possible to actively contribute to the decarbonisation of the country, while respecting the unique characteristics of the region.”
