Enel Green Power Australia, a subsidiary of Italian energy company Enel, has agreed to acquire QEM’s 1 GW Julia Creek renewables project in Australia. In north-west Queensland, the project is situated next to QEM’s flagship Julia Creek oil shale and vanadium project. It will use a combination of solar and wind energy to produce 1 GW of power. Enel will provide an upfront payment of A$3 million, two contingent milestone payments totaling A$4 million, and another contingent milestone payment after making a final investment decision. In addition, QEM will be paid revenue-based royalties for the duration of the project, ranging from 1 per cent to 2 per cent.
Reportedly, the company will be supplied with 25 MW to power the mining operations under a ten-year power purchase agreement. Enel will also acquire more than 18 months of wind and solar data and intellectual property related to engineering, environmental, geotechnical, flood plain and other project-related studies. The data was collected to support a renewable power generation optimisation study. QEM has completed the study after installing monitoring equipment on-site and gathering more than a year’s worth of live data crucial for the project’s advancement.
Earlier this month, Enel, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Enel Green Power North America Inc. (EGPNA), finalised an agreement with ORMAT Technologies Inc. on the sale of a renewable asset portfolio for a total consideration of €250 million, subject to customary transactional adjustments in the US. The assets sold include EGPNA’s entire geothermal portfolio as well as a number of small solar plants, with a total capacity of 150 MW of operating plants.
