Kahlbetzer-backed solar start-up eyes Nasdaq proceeds for SA projects
Vast Renewables says it is aiming for final decisions on the development of two major South Australian solar projects next year after completing a deal with a special purpose acquisition company that will allow its shares to trade on the Nasdaq this week.
The deal with Nabors Energy Transition Corp (NETC), which was initially to agreed in February, will provide the company with about $US60 million ($89.4 million) in capital.
Artist render of Vast’s proposed concentrated solar project in Port Augusta.
Vast chief executive Craig Wood said that would help fund a solar project in Port Augusta with a decision due in the September quarter, followed by a green methanol project the following quarter. Some funds would be used for setting up manufacturing plants for the solar systems Vast needs for the projects.
“The announcement today is a massive step forward for us,” Mr Wood said. He noted that the $220 million solar thermal project, VS1, was also backed by $65 million of funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and $110 million of concessional financing from the federal department, while the $80 million SM1 green methanol project was half-funded by the HyGATE program between Australia and Germany and by a preliminary methanol sales accord with trader Mabanaft.
Mr Wood said Vast had also been signing deals with strategic partners over the past few months in expectation that the investors in the NETC’s special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) would take back their funds prior to the transaction with Vast, as has proved the case. Close to 99 per cent of shares in the SPAC were redeemed ahead of the transaction, Mr Wood said yesterday.
Canberra Airport Group committed in September to buy up to $US10 million of shares in Vast with the expectation that the technology can be used to produce low-cost, sustainable aviation fuels, while the Australian arm of French energy giant EDF agreed earlier this month to invest €10 million ($16.2 million) in Vast, with which it will partner to develop solar projects.
Vast’s original founder, Johnny Kahlbetzer of the billionaire Kahlbetzer family, remains a shareholder.
“As a listed company in the US, we now have the ability to tap the public market as well as bring strategics in,” Sydney-based Mr Wood said, adding that discussions were ongoing with third parties regarding capital needs down the track.
NETC chief executive Anthony Petrello said Vast’s “innovative and proven” third-generation concentrated solar technology and advanced project pipeline “provide the elements for a successful business combination”.
“We remain very excited by the global opportunities, including the US and Middle East, presented by Vast as its CSP technology is deployed and its project pipeline is developed,” he said in a statement.
Vast’s technology uses a modular tower design and sodium for heat transfer to capture and store heat that is then converted into renewable energy and heat.
Thousands of mirrors are arranged to capture energy from the sun’s rays as heat in sodium, with the heat then transferred to molten salt for high-density storage. The stored heat can then be used on-demand to generate steam for a turbine or to deliver a mix of power and heat, and can improve the viability of producing green fuels.
The planned VS1 project involves a 30-megawatt CSP plant that will act as a reference plant to roll out a portfolio of projects in Australia and overseas. It involves a scale-up of a 1.1-megawatt demonstration plant in Forbes, NSW that started up in 2018.
Mr Wood said the company was closely watching policy developments that supported dispatchable clean energy, particularly the Capacity Investment Scheme, which could be appropriate for subsequent projects.
“But realistically we have to have the first one built before those conversations become really active,” he added.
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