Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), a subsidiary of multinational mining giant Rio Tinto has entered into a renewable power purchase agreement (PPA) to secure 140MW of wind energy from a new wind farm situated in the Western and Northern Cape Province.
The project, Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farm (Pty) Ltd, owned by African Clean Energy Developments (Pty) Ltd (ACED) will supply electricity to RBM for 20 years, and is expected to reduce the company’s annual carbon emissions by 20%.
Once constructed, the Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farm is expected to produce approximately 460GWh of renewable energy annually which will be transported to RBM’s operations located in Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa.
“As a world leading mineral sands operation, we are determined to find better ways to produce the materials the world needs and decarbonizing our operations is one of them,” said Werner Duvenhage, Managing Director at RBM.
“Rio Tinto has committed to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050. The Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farm has the potential to reduce RBM’s annual carbon emissions by 20% and reduce our existing reliance on traditional energy sources by 26%,” added Duvenhage.
Richards Bay Minerals renewables procurement drive
In 2022 RBM signed a similar agreement for the Bolobedu Solar PV plant in Limpopo with Voltalia. The Bolobedu solar PV project, currently in progress, is anticipated to meet 17% of RBM’s power consumption by generating up to 300GWh of renewable energy per annum.
Combined, the Khangela Emoyeni Wind and Bolobedu Solar projects will supply approximately 42% of RBM’s existing energy needs and present opportunities for job creation, skills development, and knowledge transfer within local communities, surrounding the project sites, during both the construction and operational phases.
James Cumming, General Manager at ACED said, “We are immensely proud to have achieved financial close and commenced construction on Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farm, with Rio Tinto’s Richards Bay Minerals. Not only will it provide RBM with clean energy for their operations, but it will also help alleviate South Africa’s power crisis.”
