Gold Fields a Finalist in State Government’s Gecko Awards

Australia’s largest hybrid renewable microgrid system powering the Agnew goldmine near Leinster has been shortlisted for a prestigious annual award recognising projects of environmental excellence.  Agnew was yesterday revealed as one of three projects in WA shortlisted for the State Government’s Golden Gecko Award.

The award recognises innovation in environmental management, and provides an opportunity to share experiences between government, industry and the community.  In it’s 30th year, the award has so far recognised more than 60 projects for demonstrating outstanding performance and positive environmental outcomes for WA.

The Agnew microgrid is a partnership between the mine owners Gold Fields and global energy producer EDL.  With five wind turbines, a solar farm, a battery system and an off-grid gas and diesel power plant, the hybrid renewable project has a generation capacity of 56MW, offsetting an estimated 46,300 tonnes of carbon annually.  The project delivers an average of 50-60 per cent of Agnew’s power requirements with renewable energy.

The 110m-high wind turbines with a rotor diameter of 140m contribute up to 18MW and make Agnew the first mine site in Australia to use wind-generated electricity.  State Mines Minister Bill Johnston said the awards recognised projects that had set new standards in the industry.