Enabling net zero, Hamish Moffat, Managing Director at Zenith Energy, speaks to us about the company’s sustainable future.
ENERGY SOLUTIONS FOR OUR TIMES
Zenith Energy (Zenith) is one of Australia’s leading independent power producers (IPPs), having established its presence by providing remote power generation solutions to major projects since 2006.
With a portfolio spanning throughout Western Australia (WA) and the Northern Territory, Zenith’s mission is to enable customers in its chosen markets to achieve their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, including net zero emissions through electrification. Zenith is leading the energy transition in Australia’s mining sector and grid connected communities, deploying innovative technology with a complete range of renewable energy generation, battery energy storage, and low-emission thermal technologies to decarbonise power systems at scale both cost-effectively and reliably.
Hamish Moffat, Managing Director of Zenith, has worked in and around the energy sector for over three decades, having joined the company in 2015 and immediately setting the strategy for where the business was to head.
“Our core business has grown up on mining and resources, and we’ve provided power solutions to mining and oil and gas houses predominantly throughout Australia and even overseas,” Moffat opens.
“We’ve focused on efficiency and emissions reduction for a number of years, and the decarbonisation potential has driven what we do,” he continues.
With the mindset of creating a renewable energy future today, Zenith specialises in bespoke, off-grid power generation and grid connected community energy solutions, integrating a complete range of thermal and sustainable energy with innovative technologies to deliver greener, cost-effective, and reliable hybrid power solutions for its increasingly diverse set of clients.
The company also prides itself on offering a flexible approach, meaning that it is free from traditional energy-type restraints, enabling it to deliver optimum power solutions with proprietary techno-economic modelling.
This modelling allows Zenith to develop innovative, custom-built power solutions that are tailored to a client’s specific location, load profile, site conditions, and decarbonisation objectives.
With an extensive knowledge of and experience in the remote power industry, Zenith is an unparalleled leader in hybrid power solutions with proven delivery, security, and quality of supply.
TAILORED POWER SOLUTIONS
Zenith sets itself apart from the competition in myriad ways, one of the most prominent being its vertically integrated offer.
“We do everything from design, engineering, procurement, construction, operations, maintenance capabilities, and more. We even have our own in-house legal team,” expands Moffat.
This allows Zenith to streamline and ultimately optimise the services offered to its clients, ensuring that the entirety of a project is constructed and managed with the highest level of care and attention.
Additionally, Zenith offers a build–own–operate (BOO) service model, which allows clients to deploy their capital more effectively within their respective businesses.
These contracts are a cost-effective solution, providing reliable, state-of-the-art power for the life of a project that Zenith has recently expanded into grid-connected networks and microgrids.
Along with this model, which allows for a plethora of client benefits, the company is leading the deployment of large-scale hybrid islanded projects in Australia.
One such endeavour is the Bellevue Gold project – currently the highest penetration renewable hybrid project in Australia.
“Bellevue Gold – a gold mine – will be a high-penetration wind, solar, battery energy storage, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) solution that will have an 80 percent renewable energy fraction, which is extraordinarily high in the current market,” notes Moffat.
Zenith will finance, build, own, operate, and maintain the cutting-edge 88 megawatt (MW) hybrid power station for an initial term of 15 years. The hybrid power solution will allow the project to operate on 100 percent renewable energy and seamlessly switch to an engine-off mode during periods of high renewable energy generation.
Projects such as these highlight the company’s unique services, which differentiate it from the rest of the market, along with its dedication and strides towards a more sustainable future.
“We provide clients with the highest level of surety around delivering projects and meeting their performance criteria and reliability of supply”
Hamish Moffat, Managing Director, Zenith Energy
ON THE WAY TO NET ZERO
With the right balance of ambition and ability, Zenith is working to create sustainable outcomes that deliver value whilst strengthening the environment and the local communities in which the company operates.
While the Australian federal government has outlined its plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050, Zenith has earmarked 2035 as the year it will achieve this target.
“We are actually the first and only IPP in Australia to issue a net zero objective by 2035, which is well ahead of the rest of the market,” excites Moffat.
“In fact, we had an interim target of 20 percent reduction in our carbon intensity by 2025, and we have already achieved that goal based on contracted power purchase agreements (PPAs),” he continues.
As a leading IPP in the mining and resources sector along with grid-connected community energy solutions, Zenith has committed itself and its team to reaching 100 percent renewable power generation, predominantly via bulk solar and wind power.
In addition to this net zero commitment, Zenith is the only IPP working with the Electric Mine Consortium in Australia.
“The consortium is working around the electrification and decarbonisation of mines through innovation and new technology trials with all participants,” expands Moffat.
As part of the transition to renewable energy, Zenith is actively working with like-minded companies and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to develop industry solutions, including increasing renewable penetration among legacy clients, and participating in collective groups such as the Electric Mine Consortium.
The culmination of these achievements was recognised this year with Zenith scooping two titles at the 2023 Asian Power Awards – one for ESG Programme of the Year – Australia, and a second for IPP of the Year – Australia.
“We’re not just your typical corporation where it’s all about the bottom line; it’s about how we get there in a responsible and sustainable manner,” asserts Moffat.
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Zenith doesn’t take its reputation as one of Australia’s leading power producers lightly.
The company is acutely aware of the need to continue to learn and grow, not only in its methods of power generation but also in its engagement with local communities.
An important undertaking for Zenith is Traditional Owner engagement. Within the broader diversity and inclusion framework of the company, it has various programmes for Indigenous engagement, having participated in a number of firsts in this area.
“We did the first IPP First Nations engagement agreement in the country, and now we have established a joint venture (JV) majority owned by the Traditional Owners – a milestone in Australia,” insights Moffat.
Along with this endeavour to acknowledge and support the traditional custodians of the land, Zenith also has measures in place to support a more diverse workplace.
This includes implementing the company’s Reconciliation Action Plan and providing culturally appropriate support and cross-cultural awareness, ultimately supporting employees in observing cultural events even in remote, on-site locations.
With the intent to make a difference in the lives of employees and the communities in which they live and work, a key part of Zenith’s mission is the development of open and rewarding relationships, placing an emphasis on honesty and respect.
“Our people are our most important asset. I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but as a resources-based offer, it’s all about our capability and competency,” notes Moffat.
No organisation is a single person, and Zenith is acutely aware that the development of a strong, positive, and inclusive workplace is vital if the company, and the wider mining and resources industry, are to continue to grow both culturally and economically.
With the renewable energy sector being such a dynamic and engaging place to be in with seemingly never-ending developments and advances, Zenith is paving the way for the future of the mining and resources industry in a manner that is sustainable, economic, and reliable.
“We’re all about growth, whether it’s organic, inorganic, geographic, or segmental,” concludes Moffat.
Having grown to become one of Australia’s leading IPPs, Zenith is tirelessly looking for ways to progress and ensure that it can continue the delivery of tailored, sustainable, reliable, and cost-effective power solutions for years to come.
ZENITH ENERGY PARTNER
