Last checked at 8 Aug 2022 07:00
Prospex Energy PLC / Index: AIM / Epic: PXEN / Sector: Oil and Gas
8 August 2022
Prospex Energy PLC
('Prospex' or the 'Company')
El Romeral: Project Apollo On Stream
Prospex Energy PLC (AIM: PXEN), the AIM quoted investment company focused on European gas and power projects, is pleased to announce the successful installation of a 41.5 kW array of 83 solar panels on the roof of the El Romeral power plant, known as Project Apollo, was completed on 4 August 2022. The Company holds a 49.9% working interest in El Romeral through its interest in Tarba Energía S.L. ('Tarba').
Project Apollo powers part of the ancillary services at the plant, thereby leading to reduced self-consumption and increased sales of electricity. The cost of installation was less than €50,000 which was financed from existing funds held by Tarba. Payback from this investment is estimated to be three to four years. A total of 83 photo-voltaic panels have been installed in three separate zones on the power plant roof giving a total installed peak capacity of 41.5 kWh. Project Apollo is expected to generate 66 MWh in the first year.
Project Apollo will give valuable experience to Tarba in managing solar plants, which will be useful learning for Project Helios, the renewable co-generation project via a proposed 5 MW solar farm adjacent to El Romeral which is at FEED stage. Connection to the power grid at El Romeral is pre-existing and the grid network has ample capacity to export increased electricity output from Project Helios, subject to permitting.
Mark Routh, Prospex's CEO, commented:
"Project Apollo establishes us as an emerging integrated energy company and reduces our carbon footprint by leveraging an existing asset to incorporate photovoltaic capabilities. Not only will this directly result in increased sales of electricity at the El Romeral power plant, but importantly, it also furthers our ambition to diversify our power assets as we look to enhance our conventional/renewable energy ratio. This will be a core pillar of Prospex's strategy in the future as we balance the immediate and critical demand contours of domestic gas markets with our responsibility to provide long-term sustainable power across Europe.
"Today's news is a significant first step towards achieving this over-arching strategy and I look forward to providing further news in this regard over the coming weeks and months."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR") and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.
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For further information visit www.prospex.energy or contact the following:
Mark Routh | Prospex Energy PLC | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
Ritchie BalmerRory Murphy | Strand Hanson Limited | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 3494 |
Andrew Monk (Corporate Broking)Andrew Raca/Alex Cabral (Corporate Finance) | VSA Capital Limited | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3005 5000 |
Colin RowburyJon Belliss | Novum Securities Limited | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7399 9427 |
Susie GeliherAna Ribeiro | St Brides Partners Limited
| Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
Notes
Prospex Energy PLC is an AIM quoted investment company focussed on high impact onshore and shallow offshore European opportunities with short timelines to production. The Company's strategy is to acquire undervalued projects with multiple, tangible value trigger points that can be realised within 12 months of acquisition and then applying low-cost re-evaluation techniques to identify and de-risk prospects. The Company will rapidly scale up gas production in the short term to generate internal revenues that can then be deployed to develop the asset base and increase production further.
About El Romeral and Tarba
The El Romeral gas and power project in Spain, with gas production wells supplying gas to an 8.1MW power plant near Carmona in Southern Spain is owned and operated by Tarba. It is currently operating at about 30% of its full capacity because Tarba is waiting on permits to drill further infill wells on the concessions to increase production. Tarba can now be categorised as a hybrid energy provider with the successful installation of photovoltaic panels on the roof of the plant. Prospex owns a 49.9% working interest in the El Romeral project via Tarba. The remaining 50.1% working interest is owned by Warrego Energy Limited (ASX:WGO). Tarba sells electricity generated from the plant on the spot market in Spain. The El Romeral licences comprise three contiguous production concessions.
The updated Corporate Presentation for Q3-2022 is available on the Company's website at
https://www.prospex.energy/home