Rio Tinto builds solar power plant at Kennecott copper operation in Utah

Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) announced this week it has completed construction on a new 5-megawatt solar power plant at its Kennecott copper operations in Utah.

The 12,800 solar panel power plant will be commissioned in the coming weeks, Rio said, enabling Kennecott to reduce its operational emissions by 3,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

The plant will serve as a pilot project with the goal of expanding Kennecott’s solar energy supply in the future, it added.

In June, Rio said it plans to invest about $920 million at Kennecott as part of a plan to increase its supply in North America. A total of $498 million will be invested in an underground mine and infrastructure in the North Rim skarn, which will deliver about 250,000 tonnes of additional mined copper over the next 10 years.

The location of the 30-acre solar array was selected to minimize visual and environmental impact, the company said. It is adjacent to other existing industrial operations, away from residential and commercial zones.

Shifting to sustainable energy solutions is a priority for Kennecott, Rio stated. The mine closed its coal-fired power plant in 2019, moving to electricity paired with renewable energy certificates, which resulted in a 65% reduction in its carbon footprint and the elimination of over 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide output per year.

“Rio Tinto Kennecott has a key role to play in supporting the energy transition.,” Rio Tinto Kennecott managing director Nate Foster said in a statement.

“We supply US companies with the copper and tellurium they need to produce solar panels, wind turbines, and conductors. We also continue to take steps to further decarbonize our business, from our battery electric vehicle trial to our renewable diesel trial and now to our own solar plant.”