Ascension Clean Energy, Louisiana

By Julian Atchison on November 18, 2022

Clean Hydrogen Works, Denbury & Hafnia

Click to learn more about the new Ascension Clean Energy project, being developed by Clean Hydrogen Works, Denbury and Hafnia.
Click to learn more about the new Ascension Clean Energy project, being developed by Clean Hydrogen Works, Denbury and Hafnia.

Project developer Clean Hydrogen Works (CHW), CCS provider Denbury and tanker company Hafnia will jointly develop a world-scale ammonia production project near Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Denbury and Hafnia are major shareholders in Ascension Clean Energy (ACE), which will total $7.5 billion in investment and produce 7.1 million tonnes of CCS ammonia per year.

Denbury will transport and sequester CO2 emissions via their extensive pipeline infrastructure, while Hafnia will ship the product around the globe, thanks to ACE’s proximity to existing export infrastructure, and its location on the Mississippi River. FID is expected in 2024, with production to start from 2027.

Louisiana’s emergence as a leader in the energy transition has attracted major investments
from legacy companies as well as prospective investments from newer ventures like Clean
Hydrogen Works, and that’s good news for our state. We will continue to work with our local and regional partners to support economic development that diversifies our energy and manufacturing sectors, creates good-paying jobs and moves us toward our goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards in Louisiana Economic Development’s official press release, 31 Oct 2022

Louisiana: a new epicenter for ammonia energy

ACE joins a series of exciting announcements this year originating from the US state:

  • Nutrien & Denbury’s million-tonne-per-year plant planned for Geismar (just up-river from Donaldsonville).
  • Amogy & Southern Devall’s recent announcement that they would deploy an ammonia-powered barge on the Mississippi River.
  • CF Industries & Mitsui & Co’s planned million-tonne-per-year CCS ammonia plant, also in Ascension Parish.
  • CF Industries’ retrofits at its existing Donaldsonville production plant to allow for CCS and electrolytic hydrogen production (a CCS deal was recently signed with ExxonMobil).
  • And of course Air Products’ announcement of a world-scale CCS ammonia plant last October (again, also in Ascension Parish).