The first phase of the project, located at the northernmost extent of Vulcan's focus area in the Upper Rhine Valley, will include a pre-feasibility study for the construction of geothermal assets for Stellantis' facility, carried out by Vulcan. If successful, the next phase will focus on drilling and more advanced studies and development. Stellantis will aim to source funding for 50% of the project development, which is also supported by the local government.

Stellantis and Vulcan will aim to produce clean electricity and supply it to the grid for both internal and external consumption, in accordance with Germany's Renewable Energy Act (EEG), while also producing heat to be transferred to Stellantis' manufacturing site.

"This partnership with Vulcan reinforces our commitment to promoting greater clean energy solutions across our enterprise," Stellantis CEO, Carlos Tavares, said. "It is one of many actions we've taken to drive results, impact, and sustainability in alignment with our Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan."

"Vulcan's core mission is decarbonisation, through renewable energy and carbon neutral, zero fossil fuels lithium supply," Vulcan managing director and CEO, Dr Francis Wedin, said. "Vulcan is here to support Stellantis, our largest lithium customer and one of our major shareholders, to decarbonise its operations in Europe. While we remain focused on our geothermal-lithium developments in the centre of the Upper Rhine Valley Brine Field, this project is a complementary opportunity to expand our development pipeline to some of the outer-lying areas in the Upper Rhine Valley, supported by industrial partners like Stellantis."

Got a story? Email: duncan.moore@aspermontmedia.com