Wärtsilä 120 MW plant for Kalgoorlie: power system notes for mine engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Wärtsilä will supply engines, controls and auxiliary systems for a new 120 MW flexible engine power plant in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, to expand power for Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM), owned by Northern Star Resources. The contract, placed by independent power producer Zenith Energy Operations, adds dedicated generation capacity for one of Australia’s largest open-pit gold operations. For mine operators, the project signals continued reliance on high-availability, engine-based thermal power in remote gold districts, complementing but not replacing on-site renewables and storage.
Technical Brief
- Supply scope limited to Wärtsilä engines, plant controls and all auxiliary balance-of-plant systems.
- Modular engine-generator sets allow staged installation and future capacity increments without full plant shutdown.
- Fast-ramping reciprocating engines suit variable mining loads, including large shovel, crusher and mill starts.
- Engine-based plant configuration supports N-1 redundancy, improving power security for critical pit and plant systems.
- Integration with existing KCGM power infrastructure will require synchronisation, protection coordination and load-shedding schemes.
- Remote Kalgoorlie location keeps grid-strength low, so on-site spinning reserve and fault-level support remain essential.
Our Take
A 120 MW engine-based plant at Kalgoorlie positions Northern Star’s KCGM operations among the larger mine‑site power users in Western Australia, which typically gives miners more leverage in negotiating long-term power and fuel contracts with IPPs such as Zenith Energy Operations.
Within our 241 Mining stories, gold items rarely feature dedicated on-site power plants of this scale, suggesting KCGM is planning for both high utilisation and contingency capacity, which can support future throughput increases or parallel processing circuits without major grid upgrades.
For gold projects in Western Australia, flexible thermal generation like Wärtsilä’s is increasingly used as a bridge to higher-renewables blends; designing in modular 120 MW-class capacity now makes it easier for KCGM to bolt on solar or battery storage later while maintaining reliability for continuous operations.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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