Korea Zinc buys into renewable energy development in NQ

Investment by Korea Zinc stands to benefit North Queensland with billions of dollars worth of renewable energy projects.

Billions of dollars worth of renewable energy and green hydrogen projects could be developed in North Queensland after another big investment by the owner of Townsville’s Sun Metals zinc refinery, Korea Zinc.

Korea Zinc subsidiary Ark Energy has announced it will acquire leading Australian utility-scale wind and solar energy developer Epuron.

While the value of the deal, which is expected to settle next year, was not released, it is understood to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

It comes as Korea Zinc, the world’s largest producer of zinc, lead and silver, accelerates its transition to renewable energy and lays the foundation for a green energy export corridor from Australia to Korea.

Epuron has around 4200MW of early-stage development projects in Queensland, NSW and Tasmania and a further investigation pipeline of about 4800MW.

It also has some 5860MW of projects which are under joint development agreements with counterparties but it is the development projects which most interest Korea Zinc.

Chairman of Ark Energy and Vice Chairman of Korea Zinc Yun B Choi said the acquisition allowed them to accelerate Korea Zinc’s energy transition and contribute to Ark Energy’s long-term ambition to develop a green energy export corridor from Australia to South Korea.

“We will leverage our parent company’s strong balance sheet to expand Epuron’s existing business model and leverage the (Korea Zinc) group’s internal demand from the production of green non-ferrous metals, and our own demand from green hydrogen production, to fast-track the build-out of Epuron’s development portfolio,” Mr Choi said.

The Townsville refinery developed the largest integrated industrial use solar farm in Australia at its Stuart site in 2017 and is due to commission an early stage 1MW SunHQ hydrogen hub just outside the refinery by late next year.

It will produce hydrogen for its hydrogen fuel cell trucks operating between the refinery and the port as well as for other transport operators.

Some of the Ark Energy team CEO Daniel Kim, Vice Chairwoman Kathy Danaher and General Manager, Commercial & Strategy, Dan Hamel.

Ark Energy CEO Daniel Kim said it was the take-up of hydrogen, most likely by the transport sector, as well as the ability to source low-cost renewable energy for its production, which would drive economies of scale to make the cost of hydrogen viable.

The acquisition of Epuron was about having projects that could deliver that low-cost power.

Mr Kim said Epuron’s projects in Queensland, NSW and Tasmania included a “few gigawatts” worth of projects in North Queensland, particularly around Collinsville.

“For us to continue to develop and build this up, that’s billions of dollars (of investment). There’s a huge opportunity for North Queensland,” Mr Kim said.

While its initial stage SunHQ hydrogen hub, producing up to 158 tonnes of green hydrogen a year, would be a start, Mr Kim said there would be the opportunity for expansion for further domestic and export use.

“We are deeply committed to Townsville and trying to maximise the benefits for Townsville and North Queensland arising from our own hydrogen ambitions,” Mr Kim said.

Originally published as Korea Zinc buys into renewable energy development in NQ