Rio Tinto\u2019s fully-owned and operated Diavik diamond mine will build the largest solar power plant across Canada\u2019s territories. It will feature over 6,600 solar panels that will generate approximately 4,200 megawatt-hours of carbon-free electricity annually for the mine.<\/p>\n
The solar power plant will provide up to 25% of Diavik\u2019s electricity during closure work that will run until 2029, with commercial production from the operation expected to end in early 2026.<\/p>\n
The facility will be equipped with bi-facial panels which will not only generate energy from direct sunlight, but also from the light that reflects off the snow that covers Diavik for most of the year. It will cut diesel consumption at the site by approximately one million litres per year and reduce emissions by 2,900 tonnes of CO2<\/sub> equivalent, which is comparable to eliminating the emissions of 630 cars.<\/p>\n Angela Bigg, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Diavik Diamond Mine said: \u201cI am delighted that we will be significantly increasing our renewable power generation with the largest solar power plant in Canada\u2019s northern territories at the Diavik Diamond Mine.\u201d<\/p>\n The solar power plant will significantly expand Diavik\u2019s renewable energy generation, which already features a wind-diesel hybrid power facility that has a capacity of 55.4 MW and provides the site\u2019s electricity.<\/p>\n The project is supported by CAN$3.3 million in funding from the Government of the Northwest Territories\u2019 Large Emitters GHG Reducing Investment Grant program, and CAN$600,000 from the Government of Canada\u2019s Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit.<\/p>\n Diavik is working with the Government of the Northwest Territories and community partners to determine how its renewable energy infrastructure can best benefit the region following closure.<\/p>\n Rio Tinto is progressing decarbonisation initiatives across its global operations, with the aim of reducing its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% by 2030 and to achieve net zero across its operations by 2050.<\/p>\n Construction will start in coming weeks and the solar power plant will be fully operational in the first half of 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rio Tinto\u2019s fully-owned and operated Diavik diamond mine will build the largest solar power plant across Canada\u2019s territories. It will feature over 6,600 solar panels that will generate approximately 4,200 megawatt-hours of carbon-free electricity annually for the mine. The solar power plant will provide up to 25% of Diavik\u2019s electricity during closure work that will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-22449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulletin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n