Altech Chemicals Limited provided an update on its CERENERGY battery joint venture with Fraunhofer IKTS. On 14 September 2022, Altech executed a Joint Venture Shareholders' Agreement with the world-leading German battery institute Fraunhofer to commercialise Fraunhofer's revolutionary CERENERGY Sodium Alumina Solid State (SAS) battery. On 26 October 2022, Altech appointed leading German company Leadec Automation & Engineering GmbH (Leadec) as the lead engineer for the Definitive Feasibility Study in relation to its CERENERGY 100MWh battery project.

On 7 November 2022, Altech announced that it had designed and launched the CERENERGY SAS 60 KWh battery pack (ABS60) designed for the renewable energy and grid storage market. Since then, there has been outstanding progress and advancement of the CERENERGY project. During this period, two critical expert workshops were held on 13-14 October 2022 and 8 December 2022, at Altech's site in Schwarze Pumpe, Germany.

The workshops were attended by Altech personnel, Leadec's process and automation engineering team, and the Fraunhofer CERENERGY expert battery team. The workshops were headed and led by Managing Director Iggy Tan with the objective to bring forward detailed design requirements as well as efficient industrial production plant design. The team was able to finalise the design basis for the 100MWh battery with the production of the 60-kilowatt hour (KWh) ABS60 battery packs amounting to 1,666 packs per annum.

The Fraunhofer experts have been involved in technical information transfer so as to ensure an optimal production process and progressing thermal modelling of the 60 KWh ABS60 battery packs to optimise the battery pack casing design and battery management systems. Leadec, the lead engineering company, is currently developing technical specifications for potential suppliers to quote on. A preliminary layout of the battery plant and site layout has been completed. Major milestones have been achieved in a very short period of time.

As part of the workshops, potential equipment suppliers recommended by Fraunhofer were invited to present their proposals in terms of technical capabilities, cost and timelines. The key equipment suppliers have now been finalised and are being integrated to work closely with the various project teams. During the period, Altech also appointed ARIKON Infrastruktur GmbH (Arikon) to manage the approval process, site infrastructure requirements, and balance of plant for the CERENERGY SAS battery facility. Arikon will be responsible for managing the application process and working with relevant regulatory bodies to obtain all necessary approvals for the project.

This includes securing necessary permits and licenses, coordinating with local authorities and arranging utility connections. Additionally, Arikon will be responsible for designing the site infrastructure requirements for the site. On the marketing front, Altech's business development team is communicating with potential customers that have expressed interest in the supply of CERENERGY batteries and the technology.

This includes a leading German energy producer that has expressed an imminent requirement to secure energy storage solutions. As the world transitions from a fossil fuel economy to a sustainable energy economy, scale and ramp up of battery storage solutions are required. Altech is aiming to secure off-take interest as part of the DFS as support for funding the project.

On the finance front, Altech is exploring various grant schemes within Germany at state and federal level as well as the EU, to support financing the project. Altech has also held discussions with leading European banks in preparation for the funding stage.