Resources projects in the Pilbara are one step closer to a new power supply after the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) approved the development of a large-scale wind and solar renewable energy project, subject to a number of conditions.
The Asian Renewable Energy Hub will comprise a series of onshore wind turbines and solar panels situated some 220 km from Port Hedland, and will have a transmission cable corridor to the coast and subsea cables to the edge of state waters.
The hub will generate up to 15 000 MW of renewable energy in Western Australia. Up to 3 000 MW will be dedicated to large energy users in the Pilbara region, which could include new and expanded mines and downstream mineral processing. The bulk of the power will enable large-scale production of green hydrogen products for domestic and export markets.
The project is expected to cost some A$22-billion and is the largest proposed hybrid renewable energy project in the world.