Big energy user drops fossil fuels, pledges total reliance on renewables
Queensland’s largest single-site consumer of electricity will move to 100 per cent renewables adding to the significant shift underway by corporate Australia to address climate change.
A growing number of companies are moving to renewables in the absence of a Federal Government policy. Photo: The Generator Judge
The Korea-owned Sun Metals zinc refinery in Townsville is the latest in a string of companies that are moving away from fossil fuels. It expects about 80 per cent of its electricity would be renewable by 2030 and its chief executive said it would easily meet the 100 per cent target.
The company already has a $200 million, 125 Mw solar farm and earlier this year received a $5 million grant from the State Government to add hydrogen to the mix.
The solar farm provides 22 per cent of the refinery’s electricity and from next year it is forecast to generate more than 240GWh/yr.
Today it announced it would join the RE100 whose members are major global businesses that have committed to use 100 per cent renewable electricity.
In Australia, 15 Australian companies with a combined market capitalisation of $470 billion have now joined RE100. All of these companies are switching to 100 per cent renewable electricity by a set date despite a lack of energy policy from the Federal Government.
Telstra has said it would halve its absolute emissions by 2030 and power its network of underground cables, mobile towers, exchanges, data centres and offices with renewable-generated electricity by 2025. Woolworths has said it would source all of its electricity from renewables by 2025. Westpac has a similar target.
The move makes Sun Metals the first major refinery in the world to join RE100.
Sun Metals said it was now considering the purchase of wind assets in Queensland which would bring the business close to 90 per cent renewable electricity.
“This will leave a small gap that will be filled by other technologies such as batteries, biogas and hydrogen,” the company said.
Its road map to this goal involves producing green hydrogen, using that energy to replace diesel, and then finally exporting energy in the form of green hydrogen into the global market.
Sun Metals chief executive Kiwon Park the company was proud to join RE100.
“We have already started our renewables journey. As the first major energy user in Australia to build its own large-scale solar farm, we’re already getting 22 per cent of our electricity from solar and based upon our development pipeline we will easily achieve 100 per cent renewable by 2040.”
“We would encourage all major smelters and refineries in Australia to consider joining RE100. The more we all move towards 100 per cent renewable, the more we can save money and create a cleaner future for Australia’s industry and the environment.”
