Vanadium venture ready to succeed pumped hydro option

The end of the Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro Project could be a boon for transition energy supplier Critical Minerals Group. The scheme to dam part of the Pioneer Valley was meant to act as a ‘battery’ to store power generated by renewables including wind and solar and act as a baseload power source by releasing into the grid at peak times. The new LNP Government has followed through on its promise to scrap the scheme, which creates an opportunity for alternative storage solutions. Critical Minerals Group (CMG) is developing a battery mine-to-manufacture model based on the Linfield lease in the vanadium belt north of the Flinders Highway between McKinlay and Richmond. The company has land in Brisbane for enrichment and manufacturing using components coming from Thailand and China. CMG managing director Scott Winter (pictured above) addressed this week’s Noosa Mining Investor Conference, saying the demand being created in Queensland by decarbonisation was being played out around the world. “The one thing that governments are realising is that they all need battery storage to, I suppose, harmonise the frequency, because they all come in intermittent and unstable. “So you need this battery storage to level it out as well as distribute it at the right time because the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. As an example, the batteries that are required can move peak sun time to the middle of the night providing energy. “We're a business that is really building a value chain from the mine all the way through to the battery energy storage solution and driving our business to pick up margins all the way along the value chain instead of just mining and shipping out, which is not the greatest from an Australian perspective. “We've got 30 per cent of the world's resource we need to build a business that is as far downstream as possible in our backyard. So that's really driving our demand, and the targets set by our federal governing bodies are real and targets that need to be met … and they all need batteries.” Vanadium batteries were a seamless substitute for pumped hydro, Mr Winter said. “Where vanadium batteries work best is in medium to long-term storage, which is sort of that pumped hydro and that brings enormous amount of value and opportunity for the money and more demand for this medium to long-term storage really. “… batteries, you can move. It's a very unique solution and you've got to build the renewable energy around it because the transmission losses are significant. So it's got to be in the right area, in the right place, right time. Critical Minerals Group has received funding from Idemitsu and the Queensland Government to help establish the manufacturing chain. They were now looking for offtake agreements as a cornerstone to go into production, Mr Winter said.

Vanadium venture ready to succeed pumped hydro option

Industry Queensland

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