Parkway and Energy Estate join forces to unlock sustainability opportunities

Parkway Corporate and Energy Estate have signed a memorandum of understanding
Partnership will have initial focus on several sustainability related initiatives in regional Queensland
Both companies encouraged by the significant opportunities presented by the energy transition

Special Report: Leading industrial water treatment technology company Parkway Corporate and Australian clean energy development company Energy Estate will partner up to advance water, clean energy, and green energy opportunities.

Parkway Corporate (ASX:PWN) has announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Energy Estate to leverage the respective strengths of each company around several significant and strategically important opportunities.

PWN says the strategic partnership will have an initial focus on several sustainability related initiatives in regional Queensland with both companies encouraged by the significant opportunities presented by the energy transition.

Both PWN and Energy Estate believe innovation and the adoption of new technologies to be essential in ensuring the energy transition is efficient, sustainable and creates value for all stakeholders including host communities.

Sunshine State Work to Reduce Emissions

Despite an abundance of renewable energy resources in Queensland, the CO2 intensity of electricity generation in Queensland remains elevated and is amongst the highest in the OECD.

Queensland is a significant energy producer, with energy exports expanding rapidly since 2015, when the first coal seam gas (CSG) to liquified natural gas (LNG) cargo left the Shell QGC operated QCLNG plant on Curtis Island.

Additionally the development of the Santos (ASX:STO) led GLNG and Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) led APLNG, through the investment of greater than $80 billion, has created a globally significant LNG export industry, based in the Gladstone region of Central Queensland.

PWN says transformational investment is supporting domestic energy production and providing energy security for Australia’s trading partners, predominantly in Asia.

However, an enduring legacy of the CSG industry is the billions of litres of waste brine produced annually, containing an estimated 6Mt of waste salts over the life of operating projects.

PWN’s master plan tackles CSG woes

In June, PWN released its Queensland Brine Solutions (QBS) Master Plan to address the significant long-term challenges posed by CSG waste brines and salts impacting Central Queensland.

Parkway’s plan is to provide a technology-based approach to develop a sustainable industry- wide solution.

Projects envisaged by the plan are being developed based on sustainability principles, including adoption of renewable energy and the production of industrial chemicals from waste brine and salts to improve local supply chains, including for critical minerals.

Energy Estate is leading the development of several clean energy projects, including North Queensland Clean Energy Hub (HyNQ), an integrated renewable energy to liquid hydrogen and global-scale green ammonia project being developed at Abbot Point.

Under the partnership with Parkway, options are being explored for Energy Estate to assist with providing firmed renewable energy, as well as commercialisation pathways for industrial green chemicals to be produced by QBS Master Plan related projects.

In addition to the QBS Master Plan, the companies have identified additional opportunities in Queensland, where Energy Estate has a significant pipeline of clean energy projects including in wind, solar, green hydrogen and green ammonia and bio refining.

Its other developments include Central Queensland Power (CQP), which is a joint venture with leading global renewable energy company Renewable Energy Systems.

CQP has partnered with Queensland Government-owned clean energy company CleanCo to develop a portfolio of projects in Central Queensland. The region is where CSG projects which PWN are looking to treat are located.

In addition to sourcing renewable energy from projects developed by Energy Estate, the companies are exploring how PWN’s portfolio of brine technologies could also be used to treat waste brine generated from a range of development projects, including projects related to the HyNQ hub.

Pivotal moment

PWN and Energy Estate believe their collaboration will drive innovation and progress in the water, energy, and green chemicals sectors, aligning with key Queensland Government priorities and sustainability objectives.

Group managing director and CEO Bahay Ozcakmak says since releasing its master plan Parkway has been encouraged by feedback from key stakeholders, including the State Government and industry.

“We are working with leading global engineering company Worley to bring our portfolio of innovative technologies to market, and earlier this year successfully completed a comprehensive feasibility study for the largest operator in the Queensland CSG industry,” he says.

“As we advance our Master Plan related activities, the alignment with Energy Estate more broadly provides several exciting opportunities for us to collaborate given our common sustainability related objectives.

“Given the scale of these opportunities, each of waste disposal, renewable energy and green chemicals, represent multi-billion dollar opportunities, it is important we continue to partner with industry and other key stakeholders, to support the timely realisation of these significant opportunities.

“In this regard, we have been impressed with the progress Energy Estate have been making in bringing industry, investors, government, and other stakeholders together.”

Energy Estate’s co-founder and CPO Simon Currie says as a developer of large-scale energy transition projects and an accelerator of innovative business opportunities it is excited by the opportunities presented by the Master Plan developed by PWN.

“These opportunities are in line with our own sustainability related objectives, as well as being of a sufficient scale to benefit from a collaborative approach with the wider industry,” Currie says.

“By collaborating with Parkway, we plan to support various Master Plan related projects, as well as leverage Parkway’s cutting-edge brine processing technologies, to assist us in delivering our portfolio of renewable energy and green chemicals projects. “

He says as Energy Estate pursues production of large-scale green hydrogen and other products such as green ammonia and sustainable aviation fuel it must adopt the most efficient technologies to create sustainable products.

“The production of green hydrogen requires ultrapure water, a process which can produce significant quantities of waste brine, which can be problematic if not managed appropriately,” Currie says.

“In some locations where there is insufficient available freshwater, investment in desalination plants may be required to support the growth of a hydrogen industry and the waste brine from the desalination process will also need to be managed.

“We look forward to working with Parkway to explore how adoption of Parkway’s proprietary technologies for processing waste brines can help unlock the hydrogen economy in Queensland and other markets in Australia and globally.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Parkway Corporate, 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.