Total Energies will build a photovoltaic power plant in New Caledonia intended for the mining and metallurgical consortium Prony Resources, have the ambition to produce "green" nickel or cobalt and reduce its carbon footprint to zero by 2040, the two partners said. Monday.
The project, the cost of which has not been disclosed, provides for the installation in successive phases of a solar power plant with a total installed capacity of 160 MW, as well as battery storage capacities of 340 MWh, replacing 'much of the electricity currently produced from coal that powers the mine site, underlines a joint statement.
The first plant, with a capacity of 30 MW, will be commissioned in 2023. Most of the facilities will be located on land belonging to the hydrometallurgical plant of the Great South of Prony, an area of some 150 hectares.
The two partners will be bound by a renewable electricity purchase contract (PPA) for a period of 25 years.
The project will cover nearly two-thirds of the site's electricity needs and will prevent the emission of nearly 230.000 tonnes of CO2 each year, the statement said.
Prony undertakes to "support its supplier and historical industrial partner Enercal in the conversion of its thermal power station to gas no later than 2025", to develop "a solar greenhouse program" for the Kanak tribes of the great south, and on site , "to install raised panels", to protect the vegetation and the mining maquis, explained the president of Prony Resources Antonin Beurier, quoted in the press release.
Currently, the group emits 25 tons of Co2 per ton of nickel produced and plans to reduce its direct emissions and related to the purchase of electricity to 16 tons by 2025, according to a publication of the group.
The Managing Director of Total Energies Renouvelables France, Thierry Muller also indicated that the two companies are committed to "protecting natural resources and biodiversity as well as improving the life of local communities".
At the end of September, Total Energies' gross renewable electricity production capacity was 10 GW and the group wanted to achieve a production and storage capacity of 35 GW in 2025 and 100 GW in 2030.
Prony Resources (PRNC), 51% owned by local New Caledonian interests and 49% by the Swiss trader Trafigura allied to the group's management, took over the Caledonian mines from the Brazilian group Vale in the spring. It received financial support from the French state.
It has just announced a mega-contract with the automaker Tesla, which has become its first customer for nickel for electric batteries. Mercedes-Benz is also its customer.
