Utah News Dispatch
Kennecott bets on wind energy coming from a newly opened Texas project
Operations at Kennecott’s Bingham Copper Mine are pictured. (Photo by JT Taylor and Rio Tinto Kennecott)
Amid an effort to become carbon neutral by 2050, Rio Tinto Kennecott signed a 15-year agreement with a clean energy company to purchase power from a newly completed wind farm in Texas.
TerraGen, a renewable energy developer, opened the Monte Cristo I Windpower Project in Hidalgo County, Texas this week. The facility has a 238.5-megawatt capacity — equivalent to powering 81,000 homes a year. And, 78.5 of those megawatts are committed to the copper mine outside Salt Lake City.
The agreement strengthens the company’s renewable energy portfolio in the country, Rio Tinto Kennecott managing director Nate Foster said in a statement.
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“It’s the latest in a series of renewable energy projects for Kennecott, following the installation of a 5MW solar plant in 2023, and a second 25MW solar plant nearing completion,” Foster wrote. “We continue to look for ways to power our operations while also lowering our emissions to help achieve Rio Tinto’s long-term decarbonisation goals.”
Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon mine has been in operation for over 120 years and currently is ready to remain active until 2026. Up until recently, there were plans in place to extend mining until 2032, but the company is also preparing feasibility studies to prolong the mine’s life until 2040.
The agreement also follows a switch to renewable diesel to power haul trucks and other heavy machinery equipment at the open-pit mine. In the past, the company also made efforts to reduce emissions, including the full closure of its coal-powered energy plant in 2019 in favor of solar and wind power sources.
“Around 78% of the electricity Rio Tinto uses globally comes from renewable sources, and the company is making investment and supply decisions to increase this to around 90% by 2030,” Rio Tinto said in a news release.
