Total Eren and Chariot Transitional Power have announced a partnership with mining company First Quantum Minerals (FQM) to build a 430MW solar and wind energy project in Zambia. The two companies are financing and building the $500 million renewable energy project and will operate together once completed.

The 230MW solar facility and 200MW wind farm will power FQM's Kansanshi and Sentinel mines, which together produced 434,847 tonnes of copper in 2021. That output accounted for more than 50 percent of the country's total output last year, and Zambia is Africa's second-largest copper producer. The project is designed to power FQM's mining operations in Zambia, a country heavily dependent on hydropower. Construction on it is expected to begin in 2023.

The clean energy generated by the project will support FQM in reducing its carbon footprint by 30% by 2025. “This project will bring significant benefits to Zambia by unlocking its world-class renewable energy potential,” said Anthony Mukutuma, general manager of the FQM Kansanshi mine. “This will help the The country realizes some untapped solar and wind energy resources. "Major projects like this underscore First Quantum's responsible mining credentials and are a key part of its plan to reduce its carbon footprint by 30 percent by 2025." Keywords: engineering construction, engineering news

Fabienne Demol, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Business Development at Total Eren, said: “We are delighted to bring our global expertise in solar and wind power to power FQM’s operations together with our partner Chariot.” Solar & Wind The combination will provide strong complementarity and all-weather generation, with solar being produced during the day and wind mainly at night. In December 2021, TotalEren began research into developing a green hydrogen project near the city of San Gregorio in Magellan, Chile.Editor/XingWentao