TORONTO, ONTARIO, March 16, 2021. Sparton Resources Inc. (TSXV.SRI) (“Sparton”or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that VRB Energy Inc. (“VRB”) reported, on March 15, 2021 an agreement signed on March 4th 2021, to build China’s largest photo voltaic (“PV”) solar integrated battery system in Hubei Province. Sparton owns a minority interest in VRB and was instrumental in organizing the acquisition and reactivation of VRB by the current majority shareholder High Power Exploration (“HPX”). VRB’s Chairman Robert Friedland and CEO Mianyan Huang reported on the four-party agreement to build in phases, a 500 MWh PV and energy storage power station integrating VRB’s vanadium flow battery energy storage system (“VRB-ESS”). The project will be located in Xiangyang, Hubei Province at a new industrial park complex that will include a VRB-ESS manufacturing “Gigafactory”, and a vanadium flow battery energy research and development institute. It will eventually generate 1000 megawatts (1 GW) of power annually.
Construction is scheduled to begin in May of 2021 with a 40 MW, 200 MWh system and 50 MW of annual battery manufacturing. This project builds on the success of the 3MW, 12 MWh solar plus storage system installed by VRB at Xiangyang in 2019. There is a growing number of 100MW renewable energy and flow battery projects under development in many provinces in China. Many of these provinces are mandating minimums of 5-20% storage capacity to be integrated with new solar and wind power projects. Vanadium flow batteries have been recommended by the China Central Government as the technology of choice for large scale integrated battery installations. VRB Energy is now the leading contender for multiple 100 MW-class projects scheduled under China’s infrastructure investment program, which is being accelerated as part of post-COVID economic stimulus. On the international front VRB is in discussions with many developers and utilities in the U.S., Australia, and South Africa for large 100 MW-class systems. The energy storage industry and VRB are clearly supporting the ongoing worldwide green energy revolution. Details of the new contract and the full VRB News Release posted on March 15, 2021 can be seen at the following websites: www.vrbenergy.com, www.hpxploration.com, and www.ipulse-group.com and on VRB’s Twitter site “@Think VRB”. VRB is majority owned by High Power Exploration (“HPX”) which is a subsidiary of I-Pulse, a private innovative technology development company. DISCUSSION “This announcement is another milestone in the evolution of VRB’s energy storage business”, stated Lee Barker Company CEO. “The choice to use VRB to build China’s biggest PV integrated energy storage system is a major breakthrough for the company and should create significant new business and value for all VRB stakeholders in the future, Sparton once again commends the VRB staff and management for this achievement.” Information regarding the Company’s interest held in VRB is as follows: Sparton’s 89.8% owned subsidiary, VanSpar Mining Inc., registered in the British Virgin Islands, owns 9.8% of VRB which is registered in the Cayman Islands, which in turn owns 100% of VRB Energy Systems, registered in China, and is the vanadium flow battery manufacturer. Full information regarding the history of the VRB investment interest held by Sparton is in its various news releases and available at www.sedar.com in its corporate filings. |
