Idemitsu increases investment in Vecco, promoting a vanadium project in Australia - Promoting the development of a low-carbon business in response to the global energy transition -

Vecco is working on a project related to a vanadium mine and an electrolyte plant (Project name: Debella Project, hereinafter “Debella PJ”) in Queensland, Australia. The Debella PJ aims to build a value chain of local production and local consumption, including the mining of vanadium, its refining into vanadium pentoxide, and the production of vanadium electrolyte for redox flow batteries. Vecco expects to raise an additional AUD$10 million in total through this capital increase, with the funds to be used for project feasibility studies, environmental approvals, refining and refining testing, and mining area application costs. A portion of the funds will also be earmarked for research and development of final products.

A redox flow battery is a battery that stores energy in an electrolyte. With characteristics suitable for large storage batteries for power systems, such as easy expansion and long life, these batteries are attracting attention as contributing to the promotion of the introduction of renewable energies.

The Debella PJ first aims to launch a vanadium electrolyte manufacturing plant (35MWh capacity) for redox flow batteries within the current year. This will be the first commercial-scale electrolyte manufacturing facility in Australia, and its construction will be supported by the Queensland State Government's Industry Partnership Program^*2, a public-private partnership program related to the promotion of the storage battery industry. In the future, the company plans to increase its vanadium electrolyte production capacity to 350 MWh or more per year. The goal is to begin mining vanadium through mine development by the end of 2024.

【Project Overview】

• 1. Project name:
  Debella Project
• 2. Resources to be mined and produced:
  Main products: vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) and vanadium electrolyte
  Accompanying by-product: high-purity alumina (HPA)^*3, rare earth elements
• 3. Location of the mine:
  Julia Creek, Queensland (650 km west of Townsville)
• 4. URL
  https://veccogroup.com.au/operations/debella-v-hpa-project/
• Five. project image
  
  

当社は、エネルギーを安定供給する責務を果たしながらカーボンニュートラル社会の実現に貢献するため、2030年ビジョンとして「責任ある変革者」を掲げています。
また、昨年11月16日に公表した「中期経営計画（2023～2025年度）」 において、2050年ビジョン「変革をカタチに」を新たに設定しました。脱炭素化に向けたエネルギー転換の動きが世界的に加速する中、当社は約40年にわたる豪州での石炭鉱山操業で築いた事業基盤を生かし、レアメタル事業への参入と知見獲得を推進しています。化石燃料から再生可能エネルギーへの転換をリードする豪州において、日系企業として事業基盤を有することをチャンスととらえ、今後も豪州のエネルギー転換に積極的に対応していくとともに、低炭素・脱炭素事業の創出に取り組んでまいります。