BlueScope Steel has signed an historic renewable energy agreement that in greenhouse gas emission terms is the equivalent of taking 90,000 cars off the road each year.
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The agreement means by this time next year a new 500 panel solar farm at Finley in the Riverina will provide BlueScope enough renewable energy to power 60,000 homes.
BlueScope chief executive John Nowlan, NSW Energy minister Don Harwin, ESCO Pacific managing director Steve Rademaker and Schneider Electric managing director Gareth O’Reilly were present to sign the seven year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) at the Port Kembla Steelworks visitors centre.
In doing so the cost savings will provide local steelworkers with more job security.
BlueScope will take 66 per cent of the 133MW of energy about to be generated by the new solar farm being built by ESCO. That is enough to provide 20 per cent of the power consumed by the steel manufacturer in Australia each year.
The historic agreement comes just one month before the 90th anniversary of steel making at Port Kembla.
Mr Nowlan said affordability, reliability and clean energy were all very important to BlueScope as it continued to reduce emissions. He said energy costs had doubled for the company in the last two years and a mix of supply was important.
“We have internal generation at the steelworks as well. And this agreements puts further downward pressure on our electricity costs,” he said.
Mr Harwin said the agreement was a great example of industry taking an innovative approach to identifying reliable and affordable energy by tapping into the state's abundant natural resources.
ESCO Pacific is building the new solar farm and Mr Rademaker said it was great to be partnering with such an iconic Australian company that has identified substantial energy cost savings.
Schneider Electric has been advising BlueScope on adopting low-cost renewable energy sources and Mr O’Reilly said the agreement comes as many Australian businesses struggle with inflated energy bills.
Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
