Sandfire managing director Karl Simich said the project drew together a number of technologies which were widely expected to have a “transformational” impact on the global economy over the next decade.

These include solar power combined with a state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery storage facility, which has been used for the first time in a remote location at the DeGrussa copper-gold mine.

“This project has already attracted a significant amount of interest from within the mining industry in Australia, with Sandfire receiving inquiries from several of our peers interested in adopting this technology at their mine sites,” he said.

“I would not be surprised to see more facilities like this built over the next few years, as the benefits and potential of solar power become increasingly recognised across the resource sector.”

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which helped finance the DeGrussa initiative with a $15 million debt finance package, said it was an important project of scale which delivered a unique combination of an off-grid high capacity solar power array and battery storage fully integrated with an existing diesel-fired power station.

The DeGrussa solar project involved the installation of a six megawatt lithium-ion battery storage facility powered by more than 34,000 solar photovoltaic panels on a 20 hectare site near the mine.

The project also received $20.9 million in recoupable grant funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

CEFC CEO Oliver Yates said the project showed the “clear economic potential” for off-grid renewables in regional and remote Australia.

“With this project now operational, and given the price reductions we are seeing in solar and batteries, the economics of remote solar and storage are becoming attractive even when oil prices are low,” Yates said.

“Soon remote communities and mines will be able to reduce the need for expensive trucked-in diesel used in dirty generators.

“This project demonstrates the financial, health and environmental benefits that moving towards renewable energy solutions can provide.”

AECOM estimated in 2013 that using diesel for electricity generation cost between $240-300/MWh for diesel costs only for larger mines, and up to $450/MWh for communities and smaller industrial loads, depending on the efficiency of the diesel unit.

By contrast, AECOM also found that the levelised cost of electricity of solar PV on a typical remote mine site was about $226/MWh without grants or subsidies.

“Today the LCOE has fallen to below $100/MWh, meaning adding batteries to systems is increasingly making good economic sense,” Yates said.

The DeGrussa project – Australia’s largest integrated off-grid solar and battery storage project – is owned by French renewable energy firm Neoen, with Juwi Renewable Energy responsible for the project development, engineering, procurement and construction, and operations and maintenance.

Perth-based surveying and infrastructure construction company OTOC constructed the plant.

The project is expected to reduce the mine’s annual diesel consumption by about 5 million litres and cut carbon emissions by more than 12,000 tonnes of CO2 annually – a reduction of more than 15% based on reported emissions for the 2015 financial year.

The facility is currently generating around 7MW of power, which is in line with seasonal expectations.

Solar generating output will ramp up during the summer months to achieve the full 10MW functional capacity.