QEM’s plan to power its Julia Creek vanadium and oil shale project in Queensland with renewable energy is very much proceeding to plan with the receipt of several expressions of interest.
The company is now undertaking a process to obtain non-binding indicative bids to develop, own and operate up to 1 gigawatt of renewable energy from a hybrid wind and solar farm.
Having a renewable energy plant immediately adjacent to Julia Creek has the potential to provide cheaper power for the project and play a key role in reducing or eliminating its emissions.
QEM Limited (ASX:QEM) expects to shortlist non-binding indicative offers by 30 June 2023 and notes that the outcomes will form crucial components of the Julia Creek Pre-Feasibility Study.
“Last year we placed wind and solar measuring equipment on site at Julia Creek knowing that a minimum of 12 months live data would be required by any party that had an interest in building a large-scale renewables project in the area,” managing director Gavin Loyden said.
“The intent of that investment was to attract interest in developing a renewable energy project that could provide power to the JCP.
“It seems that this strategy has achieved that preliminary goal and that these early investments made by QEM have the potential to bear fruit.”
He added that while the offers received to date are non-binding, they nonetheless proved that the interest is there.
The market has also enjoyed greater certainty from the Queensland Government’s Copperstring acquisition.
Renewables project
The company had in May 2022 installed solar monitoring equipment at Julia Creek before commissioning a 163m tall meteorological mast fitted with anemometers and other measurement instrumentation in July.
This equipment has gathered solar and wind data to further inform the renewable power generation optimisation study conducted by global engineering consultant GHD.
Additional studies have also been conducted over the past year to further de-risk the hybrid wind/solar farm. Environmental assessments, topographic surveys, preliminary flood modelling and geotechnical studies were completed at potential locations of wind turbines.
QEM has received non-binding indicative offers from global developers and will assess them prior to commencing further due diligence with the aim of proceeding to a binding bid stage with select short-listed parties.
This article was developed in collaboration with QEM Limited, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.