- Under this project, EGPA has to pay $3 million to acquire wind and solar monitoring equipment
- EGPA has committed to making two contingent payments totaling $4 million
Enel Green Power Australia (EGPA) has recently signed a contract for the 1 GW Julia Creek Renewables Project being developed by minerals company QEM alongside its vanadium mining and oil shale project in northwest Queensland.
It is a 1 GW solar and wind farm that would not only deliver energy to the proposed mine but also hook into the $5 billion CopperString transmission line linking Mt Isa to Townsville and the national grid.
Under this project, EGPA has to pay $3 million to acquire wind and solar monitoring equipment, more than 18 months of data, and intellectual property regarding engineering, environmental, geotechnical, flood plain and other project studies.
EGPA has committed to making two contingent payments totaling $4 million, which will be disbursed in distinct stages when significant project milestones are reached. Additionally, EGPA will pay QEM a revenue-based royalty, amounting to a maximum of 2% derived from the Julia Creek renewables project once it becomes commercially operational. Furthermore, the PSA includes a provision granting QEM the opportunity to enter into a 10-year power purchase agreement, securing up to 25 MW of firm capacity to fulfill its mining operations’ energy requirements.
QEM Managing Director Gavin Loyden said the sale is a major boost for the company, Julia Creek and the North West Minerals Province.
“In addition to the direct benefits for QEM in having access to renewable power for our vanadium project, the whole region will enjoy significant direct and indirect benefits from this scale of development,” he said.
EGPA Chief Executive Officer Werther Esposito said the proposed project has the potential to be one of Queensland’s largest renewable energy projects, capable of making a significant contribution to achieving the state’s renewable energy targets.
