Montem Resources Ltd (ASX:MR1) has revealed a plan to transition the Tent Mountain Project in Alberta, Canada, to become a renewable energy complex producing green hydrogen.
The exploration and development company has a keen focus on Canadian steelmaking coal but intends to diversify its interests and create a self-sufficient renewable energy complex at Tent Mountain that will produce green hydrogen.
Montem intends to combine pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) with offsite wind power energy generation and onsite green hydrogen production.
Independent expert studies have validated this approach, indicating the site should target 300-gigawatt hours of on-peak power production per year from the PHES.
This 100% renewable power can be used to produce hydrogen. This would potentially be Canada’s first large-scale green hydrogen production, with the project planned to produce up to 13,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year.
Large-scale production
“Developing Tent Mountain as a renewable energy complex could result in the first large-scale production of green hydrogen in Canada,” Montem Resources managing director and CEO Peter Doyle said.
“Furthermore, the PHES component of the complex will play an important role in filling supply gaps in Alberta’s electricity grid.
"We are repurposing our existing assets at Tent Mountain, which include large water reservoirs on land we own, and easy access to infrastructure, including rail, high voltage power lines, gas pipelines and the interprovincial highway.”
“We started looking at an end of mine life pump hydro for Tent Mountain in 2019, undertaking a site assessment and economic analysis. The results were promising, and we continued to progress Tent Mountain as a coal mine re-start.
“With the current uncertainty surrounding the timeline of the mine re-start, we have bought forward the planning for developing Tent Mountain into a renewable energy complex and are now moving to a feasibility study.”
The announcement on Monday saw Montem's share price rise 175% to an intra-day high of A$0.1097 while today shares have been as much as 8% higher to A$0.095
Alberta has an increasing need for energy storage and green energy production solutions as it phases out coal-fired plants throughout the next decade. Located directly within the mostly flat Canadian province, Tent Mountain is ideally placed to provide power grid stability as Alberta makes the transition away from carbon-based power generation.
Pumped hydro energy storage
PHES uses water reservoirs as a way of storing energy. Excess energy during low demand periods is used to pump water from a lower dam to a higher one, converting the upper reservoir into a giant battery.
The stored energy can be released by allowing the water to flow back down through a hydroelectric turbine into the lower reservoir. The energy is highly accessible, available anytime and able to reduce surges, avoid blackouts or meet spikes in electricity demand.
“The Tent Mountain site has inherent advantages for a large renewable energy complex, including a 300-metre drop between two reservoirs that were formed during previous mining operations, and are on land owned by Montem,” Doyle continued.
“The site is within 10 kilometres of Alberta‘s high voltage electricity grid, has great existing infrastructure to support development, is adjacent to rail and gas pipelines, and has plenty of space to develop a green hydrogen plant that will run off the renewable power we produce.”
Technical viability and strong returns
“We have applied for a federal grant from the government of Canada to assist in funding the project through the feasibility stage which is expected to take 12-18 months,” Doyle said.
“The various technical, economic and social studies we have completed over the past six months show technical viability and strong returns over a 50+ year project life. The project will include a 320 MW PHES, a 100 MW green hydrogen electrolyser and a 100 MW wind farm.
“We are very excited about the future of this project and look forward to advancing it.”
A study conducted by Entura Hydro Tasmania in 2019 demonstrated an energy in storage potential for the project of 2,560-megawatt hours, or enough energy in storage to generate 320 megawatts for eight continuous hours, which is the equivalent of powering approximately 200,000 homes through the night.
The same study found no fatal flaws in the proposed study and recommended proceeding to the next step. Refining the details of the site, identifying any additional risks, and determining mitigation measures have all been completed, and Tent Mountain is now ready to progress to feasibility studies.
Market and policy support
Given Canada’s commitments toward being net-zero by 2050, this new renewable energy-based green hydrogen production complex should be well placed to take advantage of a rapidly emerging hydrogen economy that already experiences significant investor and government policy support.
Canada has legislated support for developing green hydrogen, and Montem recently applied to the Clean Fuels Program for C$5 million in grants to undertake the next phase of study into the Tent Mountain Renewable Energy Complex.
This grant program has been designed to accelerate development of green fuels, including hydrogen. Montem expects to be successful in this grant application, with grants awarded in Q1 2022 after a 3 to 4-month selection process. In the meantime, Montem will progress with feasibility planning for this exciting new prospect.