Pacific Energy to deliver 35MW solar PV plant at Western Australian gold mine

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
The solar PV power plant will be a part of the wider St Ives Renewables Project. Image: BlackRock Mining Solutions.

Pacific Energy has inked a deal with mining company Gold Fields today (18 October) to develop its largest solar PV power plant at a gold mine in Western Australia.

Pacific Energy, a distributed energy company, will deliver a 35MW solar PV power plant at the Gold Fields’ St Ives mine site, located around 80km south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields region.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

The solar PV power plant will be accompanied by a 42MW wind farm, being developed in conjunction. Both make up the AU$296 million (US$198.51 million) St Ives Renewables Project, which aims to power the mine site using upwards of 70% renewable energy and will reduce the mine’s carbon emissions by about 50% by 2030.

Jamie Cullen, Pacific Energy’s chief executive, said the solar PV power plant will be the largest the company has been commissioned to deliver.

“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,” Cullen said.

“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 will commence civil work on the solar PV power plant in November this year and expects it to be fully operational in 2026.

Readers of PV Tech will be aware that Pacific Energy penned a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Horizon Power, Western Australia’s energy provider, that would see Exmouth run on 80% solar PV-derived renewable energy in the Gascoyne region.

As part of the project, a new hybrid system would be developed comprising a 9.6MW solar PV power plant, a 49.6MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), and a 7MW gas power station. 

Read Next

September 12, 2025
Colombian energy supplier Celsia is seeking more than US$1.2 billion in investment to build wind and solar generation projects in Peru. 
September 12, 2025
ACME Venus Urja has secured INR3.8 billion (US$43 million) to develop and construct a solar-plus-storage project in Barmer, Rajasthan.
September 11, 2025
Founder Group has won a RM10 million (US$2.3 million) engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract for a 30MW solar plant in Malaysia.
September 11, 2025
Madison Energy Infrastructure has raised US$800 million to accelerate the deployment of clean energy assets across the US. 
September 11, 2025
Constant Energy has secured THB300 million (US$9.4 million) in green financing from HSBC to expand large-scale solar and battery storage projects in Thailand. 
September 11, 2025
Solar power generation in Central Europe has grown at more than twice the EU average rate since 2019, according to new figures.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
October 2, 2025
London,UK
Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
Manila, Philippines