Conducting project due diligence, covering both the technical and commercial merits of funding the solar project.
The situation
The DeGrussa Mine site, located 900km north east of Perth (Western Australia), has large operational energy demands, using a 19MW diesel-fired power station to provide electricity to the gold and copper mine. They wanted to supplement the power station with 10.6MW of photovoltaics (PV) and a 4MW lithium-ion battery system in order to reduce their overall energy generation costs, and requested capital support from ARENA to help fund the works.
Our approach
Advisian was engaged to conduct project due diligence on behalf of ARENA, which covered both the technical and commercial merits of the project. The study examined the ability of PV and batteries combined to offset diesel as a fuel source, which is expensive in such a remote location. The positive result of the study led to ARENA investing AUD20.9M in the project, the first large-scale use of PV and battery in such a remote resource grid. Advisian was then later engaged to undertake the role of independent project certifier, which includes amongst other tasks, monitoring and reporting to project parties, certifying milestone payments under the EPC contract and all funding agreements, compliance reviews, as well as ad hoc technical and commercial support.
Results
Advisian was able to protect the interests of all parties involved in the transaction, which helped to progress this complex and challenging project, providing proof that PV and battery systems are viable energy alternatives in remote locations.
