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North America / Industrial & mining

Diavik Mine Wind-Diesel Microgrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations8
System facts24
Sources reviewed9
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Diavik's remote mine power system combined an approximately 46–48 MW Caterpillar diesel station with four 2.3 MW Enercon E-70 cold-climate wind turbines commissioned in 2012. A 3.5 MW, 6,620-panel bifacial solar plant was completed in 2024, evolving the record from wind-diesel to wind-solar-diesel. Wind delivered more than 190 GWh over the operating period and the renewable assets materially reduced annual fuel hauled over the ice road.

Research status
Transitioning from production to closure. Rio Tinto delivered the mine's final diamond production on 26 March 2026 and plans active closure work through 2029 followed by monitoring. The solar plant was expressly designed to supply up to 25% of closure-stage electricity, so the hybrid power assets still support closure rather than diamond production. No public decision yet establishes the wind/solar equipment's disposition after closure.
Historical classification
Mining
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
62.45352, -114.37241
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Diavik Mine Wind-Diesel Microgrid?

8 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Caterpillar

Supplier of the operating-mine diesel generator fleet. [8][9]

Organization

Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.

Historical mine operating entity [2]

Organization

Enercon

Supplier of the four E-70 direct-drive cold-climate wind turbines. [6][8]

Organization

Natural Resources Canada

Federal technical reporting and clean-energy support source. [6][7]

Organization

Rio Tinto

Mine owner and operator [2]

Organization

Rio Tinto / Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.

Mine and power-system owner/operator; now leading closure and rehabilitation. [3][4][5]

Organization

Solvest Inc.

Solar-project designer/installer. [5]

Organization

Tłı̨chǫ Investment Corporation

Indigenous construction partner for the 2024 solar plant. [5]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Wind
9200 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
48000 [1]
Storage
NA [1]
Wind farm
Four 2.3 MW direct-drive turbines; 9.2 MW total [1][2]
Archived diesel plant
48 MW Caterpillar generation [1]
Wind-turbine features
Gearless generators and blade de-icing [1]
Wind farm
Four Enercon E-70 turbines at 2.3 MW each, 9.2 MW aggregate; first power 28 September 2012. [6][8]
Solar plant
3.5 MW from 6,620 bifacial panels, completed in 2024; expected generation approximately 4.2 GWh/year. [5]
Diesel station
Detailed trade reporting identifies eleven Caterpillar generators totaling 46.2 MW—nine 4.4 MW plus two 3.3 MW units—while the recovered project record rounds the fleet to 48 MW. [8][9]
Wind performance
Peak instantaneous wind penetration reached 52%. First-year average penetration was about 7%, displacing 3.8 million litres of diesel; design expectations were roughly 17 GWh/year, 10% annual energy and 12,000 tonnes CO2/year. [6][8]
Cumulative performance
A federal mining report cites about 191 GWh wind generation and 43.4 million litres of diesel displaced over the reporting period; Rio's current site says total renewable generation exceeded 200 GWh over mine operations. [7][4]
Solar savings
Expected approximately one million litres diesel and 2,900 tonnes CO2e avoided annually, and up to 25% of electricity demand during closure. These are forecasts, not a published 2025-26 meter result. [5]
Storage
No electrical battery storage is documented in the wind-solar-diesel system; diesel remains the dispatchable firming source. [6][5]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Wind turbines

Enercon

Four 2.3 MW, direct-drive units with blade de-icing; the exact Enercon model was not stated in the recovered source text. [1]

02

Diesel generation

Caterpillar

Archived aggregate rating: 48 MW; engine and generator models not stated. [1]

03

Wind turbines

Enercon — E-70

Four 2.3 MW gearless/direct-drive cold-climate units with blade heating/de-icing adaptations for temperatures near -40°C. [6][8]

04

Diesel generators

Caterpillar

Nine 4.4 MW and two 3.3 MW units in operating-mine reporting; precise engine/generator models are not provided. [8]

05

Solar PV

Model not publicly disclosed

6,620 bifacial modules totaling 3.5 MW. Rio Tinto does not identify module, inverter or tracker OEM/model in its completion release. [5]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Generation

    Four 2.3 MW Enercon wind turbines (9.2 MW total), direct drive, gearless generator, Blade de-icing system [1]

  • Generation

    48MW Caterpillar Diesel Generators [1]

  • Arctic adaptation

    Direct drive reduces gearbox exposure; blade de-icing/heating, low-temperature lubrication and electronics modifications addressed frost and extreme-cold issues encountered in early operation. [6][8]

  • Logistics value

    Every litre of displaced diesel reduces fuel hauled to the remote mine over a limited winter-road season, giving renewables an operational-resilience value beyond commodity fuel price. [6]

  • Closure load change

    The solar plant's stated 25% share applies to lower closure-stage electricity demand, not historical full-production load. It cannot be added to the historical wind percentage as a current mine-production energy mix. [5][3]

  • Current boundary

    Diamond extraction is complete, but closure work still needs power through 2029. Asset retirement, resale or community reuse after closure remains unannounced. [3]

Provenance

9 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2020-07-06

  2. [2]
  3. [3]
  4. [4]
    Diavik

    Rio Tinto · Primary source

  5. [5]
  6. [6]
    Diavik Diamond Mine, Northwest Territories

    Natural Resources Canada · Primary source

  7. [7]
    Renewable energy and electrification at Canadian mines

    Government of Canada / Natural Resources Canada · Primary source

  8. [8]
    Into the wind — Diavik wind farm

    Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Magazine · Secondary research

  9. [9]
    Recovered Diavik Mine Wind-Diesel Microgrid project record

    Internet Archive / Microgrid Projects · Archived source

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