Vast Renewables, a renewable energy company specializing in concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) energy systems, has received planning consent for Solar Methanol 1 (SM1), a CSP-powered reference plant that will produce green fuels.
SM1 will be located in Port Augusta, South Australia, and will have the capacity to produce 7,500 tons per annum of green methanol. The hydrogen derivative produced using Vast’s CSP technology will help decarbonize shipping and is being used to power major container vessels.
Vast is co-developing SM1 with global energy company Mabanaft GmbH.
"SM1 will produce low-cost green fuels, which can play an important role in decarbonizing the global maritime industry. The combination of technologies can be scaled rapidly, acting as a catalyst for a green fuels industry in Australia and around the world,” said Craig Wood, CEO of Vast.
The project will combine proven technologies to produce green methanol, including:
- A Leilac calcination plant from fellow Australian technology company Calix to capture CO2 unavoidably produced in the making of cement and lime
- An electrolysis plant to produce hydrogen
- A methanol plant
The project will be powered by VS1, a co-located 30 MW / 288 MWh CSP plant that utilizes Vast’s CSP v3.0 technology to provide renewable heat and renewable electricity to produce green fuels.
The project supports South Australia’s aim to develop a domestic hydrogen industry. If successful, it will create an important pathway for scalable green fuel production that is not dependent on limited biomass resources.
Vast and its project partners signed funding agreements for SM1 for up to $13.01 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). Additional funding of up to $13.53 million is granted to project partner Mabanaft by Projekttrager Julich (PtJ), partner of the public sector in Germany in science, industry and politics, as part of HyGATE, a collaboration between the Australian and German governments to support real-world pilot, trial and demonstration projects along the hydrogen supply chain.
“After evaluating the effectiveness, we expect larger-scale projects to be developed that would serve other markets, including Europe,” said Volker Ebeling, Senior Vice President of New Energy, Supply & Infrastructure at Mabanaft.
