Vanadium junior miner QEM is putting flesh on its proposed plan to develop renewable energy on its Julia Creek Project lease.

It will start commercial negotiations on non-binding offers with shortlisted providers including ACCIONA Energía, Enel Green Power and an Origin Energy and Energy Estate joint offer. 

The renewables project proposes up to 1 gigawatt (GW) hybrid wind and solar generation. 

QEM comes armed to the negotiations with a power generation optimisation study that incudes twelve months live data from on-site installing wind and solar monitoring.

Photo: on-site drilling at QEM’s Julia Creek Project

The negotiations begin in July the company told the ASX.

In May 2022, solar monitoring equipment was installed on site at the JCP, and a 163m meteorological mast fitted with anemometers and other measurement instrumentation was commissioned in July 2022.

Additional studies had been conducted over the past year to further de-risk the hybrid wind/solar farm, the company said in its statement.

Environmental assessments, topographic surveys, preliminary flood modelling and geotechnical studies were completed at potential locations of wind turbines. These studies form a crucial component of the Pre-Feasibility Study for the JCP. 

The global interest in developing, owning, and operating the renewables project adjacent to the company’s flagship vanadium project was very encouraging, said QEM Managing Director Gavin Loyden. 

“QEM has prioritised the design and development of the renewables project with the primary objective of obtaining cheaper electricity for the Julia Creek Project,” said Mr Loyden. 

“It affirms our work to date on the Renewables Project to hear the Queensland Premier state at the World Mining Congress that the government is investing $5 billion to build CopperString 2032, to connect the North West Minerals Province, with the largest renewable energy zone on the east coast of Australia to mine and process critical minerals with renewable energy.1 

“The Queensland Government has committed to the roll-out of its Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan and to legislate its renewable energy targets of 60 percent by 2030 rising to 80 percent by 2035. 

“To put the QEM renewables project in context, there was 6GW of large-scale wind and solar projects in Queensland when the Plan was launched last year. By 2030, the Government projects it will require 16GWs of wind and solar projects and 25GWs by 2035.”