ASX Green Energy Stocks: LAVO secures $5m in NSW Government funding to develop hydrogen manufacturing

Australian hydrogen storage and technology company, LAVO, has received $5 million to expand prototyping, testing, and pilot manufacturing for the LAVO Hydrogen Energy Storage System at Tomago in the Hunter Region of NSW, creating up to 250 local jobs in the Hunter Region.

LAVO is a spin-out from the Chemical Engineering lab of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and released its first product, LAVO Home Energy Storage System, to the global residential energy storage market in October 2020.

Having successfully completed its Series A Capital Raise in 2021, LAVO has been focussing on commercialising the application of its patented metal hydride storage solution in commercial and industrial markets, securing metal hydride’s disruptive role in the storage sector of the evolving hydrogen energy ecosystem.

This $5 million in funding from the NSW Government Regional Job Creation Fund comes as engineering services consultancy, GHD, secured £141,000 ($265,000) in funding from the UK Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to demonstrate the use of Lavo’s innovative hydrogen storage system. (GHD became a cornerstone investor in LAVO back in March 2021.)

The project aims to demonstrate an energy storage system for hydrogen derived from grid electricity using LAVO’s innovative patented metal hydride.

Lavo’s technology will be applied at a large scale to demonstrate how it can support energy storage for the UK electricity network by providing low cost, and low carbon, hydrogen to local users in the northwest of England.

Joint Cooperation with Mid-West Port Authority

Australian Vanadium (ASX:AVL) has signed a joint cooperation agreement with the Mid-West Ports Authority (MWPA) as it moves towards approval, funding, and development of its vanadium project near the port of Geraldton.

The generation of a high-purity vanadium an iron titanium co-product for sale, in addition to the production of a high-purity vanadium pentoxide product for steel and battery industries, is a key differentiator for AVL.

Its vanadium project – one of the most advanced projects being developed globally – will produce a vanadium concentration at the resource site and complete production of a high purity vanadium, and an iron titanium (FeTi) co-product at a processing plant located near Geraldton.

Around 900,000 dry tonnes per annum (tpa) of FeTi co-product will be shipped through the Port of Geraldton for the 25-year life of the project.

The vanadium project in Geraldton is set to produce 5% of global new supply of vanadium pentoxide, which is a key ingredient in high-strength low alloy (HSLA) steel and VRFB systems.

AVL’s subsidiary, VSUN Energy, launched in 2016, is focused on the development of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB) for energy storage.

Genex 1H FY2022 results

Australian electricity generation company, Genex Power (ASX:GNX) reeled in a massive $11.96 million during the first half of the 2022 financial year – an 51% increase on the prior period.

Underlying EBITDA of $5.03m was also up 126% on the prior period, principally “driven by strong revenue from the two solar farms operating a full capacity for the entire period”, the company says.

The company’s projects include the 50MW Kidston Project, 250MW Kidston Pumped Hydro Project, 270MW Kidston Solar 2 Project, 150MW Kidston Wind Project, 50MW Jemalong Solar Project, and the 50MW/100MWH Bouldercombe Battery Project.

Total generation of 114,508MWh, an 83% increase on the prior period (1H FY2021: 62,447MWh) was recorded with a full half of contribution from the 50MW Jemalong Solar Project.

Genex CEO James Harding said its flagship Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project in Queensland is “progressing strongly” through the construction phase and remains on schedule for commission and operations to kick off in late 2024.

It is the first pumped hydro project in Australia for over 40 years, the first to be developed by the private sector, and the third largest electricity storage device in the country.

“Pleasingly, our operational assets performed strongly during the period – we saw consistent operations at both the Kidston Solar Project and Jemalong Solar Project, helping the company achieve record generation of renewable energy,” Harding said.

“Both assets have recently been among the top five best performing solar projects in the National Electricity Market and have proven to be a valuable source of cash generation for Genex.”