The first stage of the project – which could be extended to 6.7MW and include battery storage in coming years – began full operations this week. It will provide around 20 per cent of the energy needs for the facilities and township at Weipa, cutting Rio Tinto’s diesel use by around 600,000 litres a year.

The Weipa solar PV facility is the first of what is expected to be many mining facilities to turn to solar PV and other technologies for reduce the costs of electricity, which even with a falling oil price is still expensive.