Whyalla saviour Sanjeev Gupta reveals plan to build enough renewable energy to meet SA’s power needs five times over

WHYALLA’S “man of steel”, billionaire Sanjeev Gupta, has revealed he wants to create 10 times more renewable energy in Australia than first planned, using a combination of vast solar arrays, disused mines and hydro turbines. Find out more about his ambitious dream, and what it could mean for SA.

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WHYALLA’S “man of steel” Sanjeev Gupta has unveiled an ambition to create 10 times as much renewable energy in Australia as first planned, which would make his company one of the largest energy providers in the nation.

He also said there were plans for future property developments at Whyalla to make it a more attractive place for his company, GFG Alliance’s workers to live, and said the steel mill at Whyalla would be retooled to make high-value “special steel” for use in applications such as oil and gas pipelines.

While the initial plan is to produce two million tonnes of steel per year, that figure could increase to as much as 10 million.

Mr Gupta, speaking at the Australian Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition in Adelaide, said the company had increased its plans for 1 gigawatt (GW) of power supplies to 10GW.

For context, the entire state of New South Wales was today using 8.5GW and South Australia about 1.65GW.

The GFG Alliance plans hinge on using vast solar arrays, with the power generated to be stored in disused mines as “pumped hydro” energy, which involves using water and gravity to produce energy when it is needed.

Mr Gupta told The Advertiser that the pumped hydro and solar ambitions for Whyalla would be realised within “two to three years’’.

GFG Alliance's pumped hydro and battery storage plans. Picture: GFG Alliance

As well as those plans, the company wanted to put solar across 200 of its own industrial sites across Australia, and was looking to do deals with its employees to give them access to solar and battery storage systems for their houses.

He said there was also a possibility GFG would get involved in battery manufacturing itself.

Combining Australia’s world class solar resource with competitive storage was “game changing,” he said.

“Our biggest priority is the steel plant, that’s a massive investment, so we’re working very hard on finalising that. We’re working out what type of equipment what type of steel, what grades, and it’s looking very exciting,’’ he said.

“It’s shaping up to be a much more profound step than I had originally planned. Originally we’d planned to fix the plant and to upgrade it.

“But now actually with this plant we’re becoming more and more focused on special steel, value-added steel which is very exciting.

“It could be one of the important plants in the world, we could put this on the world stage as a special steel plant.

“A two million tonne special steel plant is significant, a two million tonne steel plant is not that significant.’’

GFG Alliance's large and small-scale solar plans. Picture: GFG Alliance

GFG Alliance’s plans now include:

■ 10GW of combined energy production and storage nationally

■ Refurbishing the Whyalla steelworks

■ Expanding the Whyalla port

■ Building a bigger lithium ion battery than the current Tesla battery at Jamestown which is currently the world’s largest

■ Setting up a bank to cater for companies in the $50 million-$500 million turnover range -potentially manufacturing electric vehicles in Australia, and

■ Eventually getting involved in new housing developments in Whyalla.

Mr Gupta said completion of the South Australian component of the power plans was slated for completion in two to three years.

In terms of property developments in Whyalla, Mr Gupta said part of his job was to “make Whyalla a place where people want to come and live, come and visit’’.

“And we have various things planned and slowly over time we’ll unravel those. I’m very excited about seeing Whyalla become an exciting, vibrant place.’’

British Industrialist Sanjeev Gupta unveiled his plans on Wednesday. Picture: Kelly Barnes/AAP

Mr Gupta said if the company did get involved in car manufacturing in Australia, as it wants to do, the operations would be sited where it was best for the business.

“It’s a big step, it’s a brave step, to try to make this new generation car in Australia so it needs the best support it can get in terms of all sorts of things, supply chains, skill sets, external environment, many, many things will factor in that decision.’’

Mr Gupta said any government help would be welcome but the company was “not waiting for anything specific’’.

Mr Gupta dismissed analysts’ concerns that his business model was unsustainable.

“The proof is in the eating of the pudding. All of our plants abroad, all of them are making money, all of them are turned around,’’ he said.

“It’s natural for people to be sceptical, because these industries have failed one after another, and we are buying them and turning them around, so it looks like some sort of miraculous activity, but it’s not. It’s just belief and looking at it whether there is a fundamental market, looking at what resources you have, how best you can apply them.

“There have been many times in history when people have come along and changed the way things are done and made them sustainable but they have always been greeted with scepticism so it’s not something I’m unfamiliar with.’’

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