ASX Renewable Energy Stocks: Bill Gates-backed energy company partners with Woodside on 5 MWe solar-tech

Bill Gates-based Heliogen announces project agreement with Woodside on 5MW solar-tech demonstration plant
The two companies have also signed an agreement to jointly market Heliogen’s technology in Australia
Neometals’ 50% owned JV company opens 10tpd lithium-ion battery recycling plant in Germany

Bill Gates-backed NYSE listed Heliogen has announced a commercial 5 MWe electric demonstration project and collaboration agreement with Woodside Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian energy producer Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL).

Heliogen is leading provider of AI-enabled solar energy which, under the project agreement, will complete the engineering, procurement, and construction of the facility in Mojave, California with construction to get underway once permits are approved.

The agreement follows the previously announced ‘limited notice to proceed’ (LNP) granted by Woodside to Heliogen last year, enabling the procurement of key equipment for the deployment of the facility to take place.

Additionally, Heliogen and Woodside have also signed a collaboration agreement to jointly market Heliogen’s technology in Australia under an “Australian Collaboration Agreement”.

The companies expect to define product offerings that use Heliogen’s modular technology for potential customers (including Woodside) in Australia and are establishing a roadmap to identify and engage with those customers.

“The proposed Mojave facility will further advance our discussions with Woodside for additional opportunities aiming to produce carbon-free heat, power and hydrogen to help them achieve their sustainability goals,” Heliogen founder Bill Gross said.

In a market announcement this morning, Heliogen said the agreement also includes the objective to deploy commercial-scale modules of Heliogen’s heat and power offerings, which may be combined with a hydrogen offering, strengthening Woodside’s role in the energy transition to lower carbon energy sources.

The companies are also in similar discussions in relation to Heliogen’s technology in the US.

“Woodside has set a US$5 billion investment target by 2030 for new energy products and lower-carbon services,” Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill.

“Our collaboration with Heliogen on this innovative technology supports our commitment to building a low cost, lower-carbon, profitable, resilient and diversified portfolio.

Woodside (ASX:WPL) share price today

Neometals JV company opens lithium-ion battery recycling facility

Mineral explorer and innovative project developer, Neometals (ASX:NMT) has welcomed the opening of a 10tpd lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling plant in Hilchenbach, Germany by 50:50 JV company Primobius.

Primobius was founded to commercialise NMT’s sustainable LIB recycling technology.

The official opening by Australian ambassador to Germany, Philip Green, marks the transition from a research and development project that kicked off last decade into what is now operations and revenue.

This will allow Primobius to showcase its operational capabilities with customers with “extraordinary market tailwinds” set to support sustainable hydrometallurgical recycling to close the battery supply chain loop.

Demonstration plant trials on the two-stage recycling process have wrapped up and completion of the stage-2 ‘refinery circuit’ test work will now allow the engineering cost study component of the feasibility study to take place.

The 10tpd shredding plant will go through a ramp-up period before scaling up to nameplate capacity, NMT said in a market announcement this morning.

Initial feedstocks are underpinned by a battery disposal contract with a German battery waste company and the remaining feedstock capacity is expected to be secured from participants in the German electric vehicle industry.