Fortescue Deploys Godzilla-Sized Wind Turbine Blades to Power Electric Dump Trucks in Pilbara

Fortescue’s plans for the Pilbara include wind turbine blades that are bigger than Godzilla.

While Fortescue’s boss hobnobs with King Charles III and chats about sustainability, under the Commonwealth Nature Initiative, progress continues towards real zero in the remote Pilbara of Western Australia. See the video of Andrew and Charles here.

As part of Dr Andrew Forrest’s vision of real zero by 2030, Fortescue is installing wind turbines with a blade length of 89 metres. Bigger than Godzilla! Have we got your attention now? The blades will be deployed at the Nullagine Wind Farm in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. They will arrive by ship at the Port Headland project site. Fortescue has done major upgrades to allow the blades easy access and to minimise impact on local traffic. The community will also receive regular updates throughout the delivery program to keep residents informed.

For global readers, I would like to point out that Fortescue’s mining operations and land tenements in the Pilbara region of Western Australia cover more than 87,000 square kilometres (34,000 square miles). This is roughly the size of Austria (83,879 km²), Ireland (84,421 km²), or Serbia (88,361 km²), and more than twice the size of countries like the Netherlands (41,850 km²) or Switzerland (41,285 km²). And for USA readers, Fortescue’s land holdings alone are larger than South Carolina, West Virginia, or Maryland, and roughly the same size as the entire state of Maine or Indiana. But only one eighth the size of Texas.

You will have read about Twiggy Forrest’s achievements and vision of real zero mining operations here and here.
Fortescue is taking steps to educate the public on decarbonisation. You need to take the people with you, especially the shareholders. Here is a great video produced by Fortescue to show how to decode decarbonisation. The Godzilla-sized wind turbines are part of an ecosystem. They will provide the power to recharge the electric dump trucks. But just how do you recharge a 240 ton dump truck in a timely manner? Using 6MW robotic fast charging, of course, thus eliminating 26% of Fortescue’s emissions — and saving a dump truck of money in the process.

CleanTechnica reported on the acquisition of Williams Racing 5 years ago, in order for Fortescue to access Williams’ fast-charging technology. It has taken some time, but it looks like everything is coming together. I still have the picture in my head, inspired by this acquisition, of huge dump trucks doing F1 races in the red dust of the Australian Outback. Beyond the fantasies of Mad Max, even. While we are indulging in mental gymnastics, the Fortescue video tells us that 6MW of charging is like boiling 1,875 electric kettles all at once. That’s a lot of tea or coffee! A less than 30-minute charge will give 4 hours of operation for the truck. The charging equipment has to be resilient, as the Pilbara is hot and dusty, with temperatures in summer over 40 degrees and down to below freezing on winter nights.

Episode 2 answers the question “Can a green grid power a mining operation 24/7?” It’s a big ask. Fortescue is the fourth largest iron ore producer in the world, exporting 200 million tons a year. The advantages: Fortescue achieves cost savings, does good for the climate, and keeps control of its energy. In the current global situation, I would add energy security.

The Pilbara has 300 days a year of irradiation and Fortescue plans to harvest that with a planned 1.5 gigawatts of solar farms. Eventually, this will be backed up with 900 MW wind and balanced by 5 GWh of battery storage — enough electricity to power 800,000 homes on solar alone. This is all connected by a high-voltage green grid consisting of 600 km of transmission lines. “A city scale power system in the middle of nowhere.” The green operation does not draw from the public grid; not the distant future, but right now.

Fortescue is not just content to reduce emissions for its mining operations; it is also working on green steel — a product for the future. Fortescue reports that it has produced its first hot metal via an electric smelting process in a pilot project at Christmas Creek. Initially using a blended feedstock, as the commissioning process continues, it is expected to be able to handle Pilbara iron ore. Larger scale production is the aim. At the moment, the focus is on testing, refining, and optimising the process.

Fortescue Metals Chief Executive Officer Dino Otranto said: “This is a significant milestone for our Green Metal Project and another step towards producing commercial-scale green metal in Australia.

“For decades Australia has exported iron ore to the world. The next opportunity is to create more value from that ore by producing green metal here at home.

“The real opportunity goes beyond green metal. It’s about building a new industrial economy around Australia’s renewable energy advantage.

“Nobody has solved green metal production using Pilbara ore at commercial scale yet. That’s the challenge we’re taking on.”

I’m looking forward to more good news of progress towards real zero from Fortescue Metals. Have CleanTechnica readers noticed any other mining companies heading down the same path? If so, make a comment below. Even in the “hard to decarbonise” mining sector, electricity sourced from renewables and stored in batteries is the way to go for cost saving, climate protection, and keeping control of energy inputs. In Australia’s Pilbara, the future is bright and electric.