Vulcan Energy has announced that civil construction activities have commenced at the Lionheart 30 MW geothermal power plant site in Landau, Germany. Civil activities follow early bulk earthworks on the site and precede the next construction stage which will see the erection of buildings and arrival of process equipment for assembly. Civil construction activities include preparation and construction of key foundations and concrete works for the power plant buildings and equipment, and building out road infrastructure.

Located in the Upper Rhine Valley Brine Field between Germany and France, Lionheart – Vulcan’s first phase of production – is a lighthouse project for Europe’s energy and critical raw material resilience. Lionheart involves the construction of an integrated lithium and renewable energy project targeting production capacity of 24 000 t of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM), enough for approximately 500 000 electric vehicle batteries per annum, with a co-product of 275 GWh of renewable power and 560 GWh of heat per annum for local consumers, over an estimated 30-year project life.

Lionheart’s combined geothermal and lithium extraction facility has been designed to produce both renewable, baseload geothermal energy and high-quality lithium chloride intermediate product for downstream processing. The commercial site, sitting on approximately 10 ha., is under construction in the Messegelände Südost industrial park in Landau. Both the lithium extraction and the geothermal energy plants will be connected to a network of pipelines and cables (interconnected pipelines and power) transporting lithium brine and industrial water from the well sites to Landau and back to the well sites for underground re-injection.

Vulcan’s Managing Director and CEO, Cris Moreno, commented: “We are delighted to move beyond preparatory bulk earthworks and into civil construction activities at our Lionheart geothermal power plant, an integral part of the Lionheart integrated lithium and geothermal project. By producing our own baseload heat and power, where excess heat will be sold to local consumers, Lionheart is able to deliver low-cost lithium production with significant insulation from high energy prices now and in the future.

“It is encouraging to see Lionheart project execution progress on time, and on budget – a great start with our project partners. Step by step, we are building cost competitive lithium production for Europe, and we look forward to keeping our shareholders abreast of further progress as the project develops.”