The latest Investing Matters Podcast with Jean Roche, Co-Manager of Schroder UK Mid Cap Investment Trust has just been released. Listen here.
I was really hoping that Peel would pick up the gauntlet and convince the inquiry that the DMG process is NOT incineration. And I certainly hope that the rest of the UK doesn't take the same erroneous view that it's incineration. Thos is Scotland's loss, because if they can't use the DMG process to deal with end-of-life plastics, and at some point they will have to stop incinerating it, then they will have no alternative but to landfill it or ship it to some other country who will throw it in the ocean.
Have you tried this?
https://www.powerhouseenergy.co.uk/investor-hub/significant-shareholders/
Planted: Because Peel has an option on exclusivity in the UK, which they can exercise at any time up to 31st March. So in effect, PHE cannot go elsewhere to build a DMG unit either by themselves or in partnership with someone else, unless Peel give up their exclusivity option.
Why did PHE give Peel this exclusivity and tie their own hands? Well, that's history!
Paxtan, the funding awarded to the university of Manchester has nothing to do with the DMG process directly, it is about finding a more efficient and cheaper way to extract pure hydrogen from the syngas that is produced by the DMG.
The current plan is to employ PSA (pressure swing adsorption) equipment to extract and purify the hydrogen from the syngas, but the PSA equipment is very expensive and therefore adds a substantial amount to the upfront Capex cost. If the Manchester University research is successful and if it can be used at commercial level, then it will be possible to reduce the capital cost of the DMG+PSA plant.
That's my concern as well Bert. But as LedZep says, no reason why they can't bring in waste plastic for feedstock from elsewhere initially, and produce electricity for the local grid connection. And of course they won't be producing hydrogen until such time as there is a demand for it at the Protos hydrogen filling station, which may take some time to get built.
For some time now I've had doubts about whether the First of a Kind would be built at Protos. We may find that the FOAK is built by HUI at either Poland or Ireland.
Thanks Mike, that was more or less what I was thinking as well. I didn't think they were right about the production of the vanadium, and neither did I think they were taking into account the massive increase in demand for lithium that we might expect in the next few years due to EVs, and actually because of battery farms for grid support, and for manufacture of windmills. So the way I was looking at it, supply of vanadium might be a safer bet in 5 or 10 years time!
I might copy that info to Joe Worthington at IES.
Mike: " He recognised the batteries were going to be needed in large amounts and lithium would not be able to supply that capacity because of it's growing scarcity by being used in EVs."
This quote is contrary to what I was told by a battery farm project developer, as follows:
"Due to the fact that mining for Vanadium batteries is undertaken in China and Russia this would not meet with Statkraft’s strict compliance and ethics regulations. We are able to procure Lithium batteries which do meet these standards and use materials sourced from other countries such as Chile and Australia. We also expect to see more manufacturing of Lithium batteries in Europe in the near future. "
"February - completion of phase two infrastructure works at Protos, Peel NRE..."
So that's completion of the infrastructure works. Does that mean that the construction of PHE-Peel SPV's buildings etc. will only commence after that is done?