Kennecott plans to increase its solar generation with new plant

Rio Tinto Kennecott has announced plans to construct a 25-megawatt solar power plant expansion, bringing the mine’s total solar generating capacity to 30 megawatts as part of ongoing efforts to improve the sustainability of its operations and reduce CO2 emissions. The power plant will help power Kennecott’s copper extraction and smelting operations in Salt Lake County.

The solar plant expansion will be located next to Kennecott’s existing solar plant, which was completed in 2023 as part of a pilot project to expand the company’s renewable energy supply. Together, the two solar plants will reduce Kennecott’s Scope 2 emissions by approximately 6 percent or 21,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, the company said. The reduction is comparable to removing around 5,000 gasoline-powered passenger cars from the road.

“Expanding our solar farm is the latest step in our journey to reduce our carbon footprint,” said Nate Foster, managing director at Rio Tinto Kennecott. “Together with other measures we’ve taken, such as our recent transition to renewable diesel, we have reduced our emissions by millions of tons over the past few years. We’re demonstrating every day that sustainable practices and resource production can go hand-in-hand to benefit our company as well as our community.”