Bellevue Gold mine runs 155 hours on 100% renewable
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- Bellevue Gold mine operated on 100% renewable power for 155 consecutive hours — a full 6.5-day work week — using its 90 MW hybrid station combining 27 MW solar, 24 MW wind, and 15 MW (33 MWh) of battery storage.
- Bellevue Gold originally designed the system to cover at least 80% of site energy needs; the run demonstrated it can fully replace fossil power under the right conditions, per the company.
- Managing director Darren Stralow said the milestone proves what's possible in the Australian energy sector and ties into Bellevue's stated goal of producing net-zero carbon gold by 2026.
- Bellevue first unveiled the renewable plan in 2022 alongside a $252 million off-grid hybrid power deal with Zenith Energy, which Steve Parsons framed as delivering 'lower emissions and a direct cost reduction in power generation.'
- The project also advances the Tjiwarl Katu Power joint venture between Zenith Energy and Tjiwarl Contracting Services, representing the Tjiwarl Aboriginal Corporation — the traditional owners of the Bellevue Gold project land.
- Electrek flagged an angle the celebratory framing sidesteps: the cleaner mining tries to become, the more equipment (like battery-electric haul trucks) it needs — equipment that drives demand for the very mines supplying its raw materials.
Why it matters: Mining is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize, and Bellevue is staking a market position on 'green gold' — a premium product in a market where buyers increasingly track Scope 3 emissions. The 80% design target becoming a 100% operating reality is the technical proof point; hitting net-zero status by 2026 is the commercial one.
