CWP Global, Green Energy Park: mega renewable projects to diversify future commodities

Two significant ammonia energy players have announced partnerships and production projects aimed at the decarbonisation of steel production. Utilizing their existing approaches to large-scale electrolytic hydrogen production for ammonia, CWP Global and Green Energy Park will develop projects in Mauritania and Brazil aimed at producing hot-briquetted iron for export to Europe.

Mauritania: leveraging renewable electricity from the AMAN project

CWP will partner with Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM) – Africa’s second largest producer of iron ore, based in Mauritania. SNIM owns and operates railway and port infrastructure in Mauritania’s northeast, and in 2023 produced around 14 million tons for export. The Mauritanian Government has already announced plans to potentially double or even triple this iron ore production over the next decade.

This infrastructure and existing iron ore production is based in the same region as project AMAN – CWP Global’s ultra-large-scale hydrogen project featuring up to 30 GW of installed renewable energy generation. The pair will investigate the development of a direct reduced iron hub near AMAN, utilising the renewable hydrogen to produce millions of tonnes of hot briquetted iron per year for export. CWP aims to have pre-FEED work for AMAN completed by late 2025, with first production towards the end of this decade. Up to 1.7 million tons of electrolytic hydrogen could be produced each year, resulting in the local production of ammonia (including fertilizers and/or shipping fuel), hot briquetted iron and liquid hydrogen.

Brazil: establishing renewable commodity supply chains to Europe

In addition to its renewable ammonia production project in the Brazilian state of Piauí, Green Energy Park is working with global mining giant Vale to develop a hydrogen-based, hot-briquetted iron production hub in Brazil. Green Energy Park will implement the same standardized production platform for electrolytic hydrogen as for its ammonia project.

We are proud to work with the largest producer of direct reduction pellets in the world to help decarbonize the steel sector. The collaboration between our companies aims to bring our leading green hydrogen technology to the core of the hard-to-abate sectors, offering a highly competitive platform for green steel production in Europe and around the world.

Bart Biebuyck, CEO of GEP in his organisation’s official press release, 1 Oct 2024

This is a win-win partnership for Brazil and Europe. We are leveraging Brazil’s competitive advantages, such as high-quality iron ore and abundant renewable energy, to potentially develop green hydrogen supply, which will enable the offer of a “green” HBI with high added value to European steelmakers. Meanwhile, we are fostering Brazil’s new industrialization, based on the low-carbon economy, and contributing to the fight against climate change.

Ludmila Nascimento, Director of Energy and Decarbonization at Vale in Green Energy Park’s official press release, 1 Oct 2024