The first topic covers commentary on the Power Supply to the Kachi site.
Sourced from Update Webinar #1 on 23/8/23
Commentary made by Scott Munro - SVP, Technology Strategy and Risk
Scott M on power solutions and how much power we need:
“On the power, where we are at the moment for phase one of the plant, we're looking at a requirement for around 60MW of capacity for that first phase one of the project. It comes in two steps. Train one requires about 20 to 25MW of power for commissioning and start up activities and then we step up to 60MW. The reason the second train requires more than the first is because it includes reagent manufacturing using the Chloralkali plant. So really what we're looking for is a solution that gives us access to 60MW.
Our best solution, as we've communicated previously, our more technically sound solution, is a grid connection. In discussions with local providers and the local statutory agency, that look at the grid in Argentina, it's been determined that the Northern route (from La Puna in Salta), is the best solution for us and that's the one that we are working with our Engineering Contractor (Distrocuyo) to perform a feasibility study for. So, they've been released to perform that work and we're expecting that in the in the not too distant future. The results of that will be incorporated into our overall DFS plan so we've got a good solution for both the power and the plant as well. That capacity (the lines that we plan from the North) can actually accommodate more projects than just us. That's a key part of the solution here, so we have started initial discussions with other potential industrial users in the corridor so that we can actually share the construction, share capacity.
So, we, as I mentioned previously for phase one, we only need 60MW of capacity. The lines that we're looking at and the lines that we're sizing up at the moment actually have a capacity of 220MW in total capacity. So, we're looking at partnering up with two or three other users to work with this system. In addition, the next phase we've been doing technical work up until now really again feasibility down, understanding what our requirements are. The next phase is really moving onto that commercial assessment, so we have engaged with four independent power producers (IPP's) from the local market. We're going to run a commercial process for them. They are signed up to take part and that will be happening in the second half of this month with the support of our Consultant in Country, GME. So, all of that is in place moving forward.
I did want to add, because we did have some questions about whether we were looking at solar for the project. So, the first 20-25MW worth of power at site, we need for train one. We plan to produce a significant proportion of that using their own solar spread at site. So, we are always going to have a minimum solar contribution at site but there is an alternative that we're continuing to look at which is for an all solar and battery backup solution instead of the transmission system. That hasn't yet been technically proven, but we continue to pursue it as an alternative to the transmission system. So solar is part of our mix, all the solutions, but it could become a larger part of our mix depending on how the technical evaluations go.”
“It's probably worth adding that the appetite, in Country from the IPP's is high for this type of project. The most profitable sector for power providers in Argentina is business to business, private power purchase agreements (PPA's) and that's exactly what we are. Their main opportunity to make return on their investment - they get very small profit allocation from the government for their other types of business. So, we've had lots of interest from the 4 main power providers in Country to participate in our project and that that really helps us to move the project forward.”
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