Fortescue has marked a major milestone in its mission to decarbonise iron ore operations in the Pilbara thanks to the delivery of its first-ever large-scale battery energy storage system to North Star Junction.
The installation is the first in a planned four-to-five gigawatt-hour rollout of energy storage systems required to help decarbonise the company’s energy supply over the coming years.
The infrastructure is powered by renewable energy vehicle manufacturer BYD’s blade battery technology and will store renewable energy during the day for green power to be supplied overnight to Fortescue’s Pilbara Energy Connect network.
BYD blade batteries are said to be engineered for high safety, reliability and performance; featuring liquid cooling systems designed to operate efficiently in the Pilbara’s wide range of temperatures and conditions.
The installation comprises of 48 energy storage containers, providing a total capacity of 250 megawatt hours and capable of delivering up to 50 megawatts of power for five hours.
“Fortescue is leading one of the most ambitious mining decarbonisation programs in the world, and BYD is proud to support this transformation,” general manager of BYD energy storage and new battery application Yin Xueqin said.
“The North Star Junction battery energy storage system is an important milestone for our partnership, and we will continue working closely with Fortescue to deliver the large-scale storage needed to power a green Pilbara.”
Fortescue is deploying renewable energy infrastructure to help reach its goal of Real Zero by 2030 with the company’s next battery energy storage system set to be built at Eliwana in early 2026.