PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Dual listed Vulcan Energy has struck a phased project agreement with vehicle manufacturer Stellantis to support the decarbonisation of the Rüsselsheim manufacturing site in the Upper Rhine Valley, Germany.

The partnership is aimed at developing, building and operating geothermal renewable energy assets to help decarbonise the energy supply in Rüsselsheim by providing renewable heat.

The first phase of the project will include a pre-feasibility study for the construction of geothermal assets for Stellantis’ Rüsselsheim facility, carried out by Vulcan and based on existing data. The following phase, if the first phase is successful, will focus on drilling and more advanced studies and development.

Stellantis will aim to source funding for 50% of the project development after the first phase.

“Vulcan’s core mission is decarbonisation, through carbon neutral, zero fossil fuels lithium and renewable energy supply. Vulcan is here to support Stellantis, our largest lithium customer and one of our major shareholders, to decarbonise Stellantis’ automotive production in Europe,” said Vulcan MD and CEO Dr Francis Wedin.

“This further increases our decarbonising impact on the European electric vehicle industry, complementing the carbon avoidance from our Zero Carbon lithium project, while creating shareholder value. We remain focused on our core geothermal-lithium developments in the centre of the Upper Rhine Valley Brine Field, to service our customers, including Stellantis.

“Our joint project is a complementary opportunity to expand our development pipeline to some of the outer lying areas in the Upper Rhine Valley, where we can also test for extensions to our lithium development, supported by industrial partners like Stellantis.”

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said that the partnership with Vulcan reinforced Stellantis’ commitment to promoting greater clean energy solutions across its enterprise.

“It is one of many actions we’ve taken to drive results, impact, and sustainability in alignment to our Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan.”