RioTinto will build a solar power plant in the diamond mine!

Mining company Rio Tinto has announced plans to build a solar farm at a diamond mine in Canada's Northwest Territories.

The solar farm will be equipped with more than 6,600 solar modules and provide 25% of the electricity for the Diavik diamond mine. The power station will be equipped with bifacial modules to generate electricity using light reflected from the snow that covers the mining area for most of the year.

Construction of the solar farm will start in the next few weeks and will be fully operational in the first half of 2024. Rio Tinto did not provide the generation capacity of the solar PV project, but said it would generate about 4.2GWh of electricity per year.

At present, the installed capacity of wind-diesel hybrid facilities in the mine has reached 55.4MW.

"Diavik has become a leader in cold climate renewable energy technology through our wind-diesel hybrid electric facility, and this important project demonstrates our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint," said Angela Bigg, President and Chief Operating Officer of Diavik Diamond Mine. I am very pleased that the largest solar farm in the Northern Territory of Canada has significantly increased its renewable energy generation."

Rio Tinto also said the project has received C$3.3 million from the Northwest Territories government's large emitter greenhouse gas reduction investment program and C$600,000 from the Canadian government's Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit program.

North West Territories Government Treasurer Caroline Wawzonek said: "This collaboration demonstrates our commitment to promoting sustainable development while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the North West, and is a signal of how our economic development continues to lead in these areas. "

Last year, Rio Tinto subsidiary Richard Bay Minerals signed a corporate power purchase agreement with renewable energy company Voltalia to buy power from a 148MW solar farm in South Africa's Limpopo province.