Swedish Stirling AB has signed an agreement with the South African company Samancor Chrome’s subsidiary TC Smelter Proprietary Limited (Samancor Chrome) for the installation of a pilot facility with one PWR BLOK unit at the TC Smelter facility in South Africa
The facility is intended to be commissioned during Q2 2020.
Under the terms of the agreement, Swedish Stirling will install a pilot energy conversion facility consisting of one PWR BLOK 400-F unit at the South African ferrochrome producer Samancor Chrome's TC Smelter production facility.
Swedish Stirling will own and operate the facility, while Samancor Chrome will provide residual gas from TC Smelter as well as purchase all the electricity that the facility generates at a set price. The agreement runs for three years from the date the facility is operational. The agreement will provide Swedish Stirling with revenue running to just under MSEK 2/year (KEUR 180/year), i.e. MSEK 6 (KEUR 540) over the duration of the agreement.
The agreement was preceded by an inquiry submitted by Samancor Chrome to Swedish Stirling earlier this year related to the startup of an energy conversion facility at TC Smelter. With its five major production facilities in South Africa, Samancor Chrome is one of the country's two top ferrochrome producers.
“This marks our second PWR BLOK reference facility installed in South Africa in quick succession, possible thanks to the flexibility in the renegotiated agreement with Afarak Mogale, plus the opportunity to show Samancor Chrome the full potential of the technology in a live setting. A future goal, of course, is to install full-scale facilities at all of Samancor's South African production facilities,” said Gunnar Larsson, CEO of Swedish Stirling.
Swedish Stirling has previously signed an agreement and declaration of intent with South African ferrochrome producers Afarak Mogale and Glencore for two facilities comprising 7 and 25 PWR BLOK units, respectively. In both cases, the agreements relate to energy conversion services, where Swedish Stirling’s PWR BLOK units convert the ferrochrome companies' residual gases into electricity that the companies then buy.
Swedish Stirling's long-term strategy and expressed future ambition is to manufacture and sell the PWR BLOK. The company therefore recently announced its intention to form a financing/leasing company in South Africa in order to also be able to offer financing solutions for PWR BLOK to customers who desire this.
