July 30 (Reuters) – BHP Group Ltd said on Friday it would build two solar farms and a battery storage system in partnership with Canada's TransAlta Renewables Inc at its nickel project site in Western Australia.

The global miner said the project will help reduce carbon emissions by 12% compared with 2020 levels at its Mt Keith and Leinster operations, where power is currently being generated through diesel and gas turbines.

The proposed solar farms will also help produce sustainable low-carbon nickel used in electric-vehicle batteries, BHP said, for which the company signed a supply agreement with Tesla Inc last week.

The project will contribute to the miner's medium-term target to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions from its assets by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, it said. (https://bit.ly/3rFGxHk)

BHP said the construction of the farms is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2022 and would take 12 to 14 months for completion. (Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)