Fortescue has abandoned plans to build a 5.4-gigawatt renewable energy hub in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, as reported by the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
In February 2022, Fortescue submitted a proposal for the Uaroo Renewable Energy Hub to the WA Environmental Protection Authority, asking for a development area of 61,525 hectares.
The renewable energy hub was expected to include up to 340 wind turbines, a solar farm and a battery energy storage system with associated infrastructure and was intended to support Fortescue’s net-zero goals.
The AFR has now reported that Fortescue terminated approval applications for Uaroo in October, with Fortescue chief executive officer Dino Otranto previously implying that the hub plans had been redundant for a while.
“Uaroo wasn’t part of the decarbonisation energy requirement, it was more for the ammonia export requirement,” Otranto said.
“As we are maturing our understanding of sun and wind intensity, you will see things coming in and coming out of the portfolio.
“From the decarbonisation agenda we have for metals, we have a clear line of sight of all the land we need. In fact, we have got land we have already approved, basically old parts of our mining lease that we are building on.”
In October, Fortescue non-executive director Larry Marshall said Fortescue is on track to achieving real zero terrestrial Scope 1 and 2 emissions across its iron ore operations by 2030, and the company also released its climate transition plan.
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