Energy China: 200,000 tons of renewable ammonia capacity online this September

CEEC (China Energy Engineering Group Co., Ltd.), also known as Energy China, is a state-owned energy conglomerate with a background in infrastructure projects. CEEC is globally active, and has delivered numerous renewable projects. Through its subsidiary CEEC Hydrogen Energy, renewable hydrogen and derivatives projects are currently under construction, including a renewable ammonia project in Songyuan in the province of Jilin, northeast China.

CEEC’s Songyuan Project

Songyuan Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park Project combines hydrogen production, ammonia production, and methanol production. In its full scope, the project will have 3 GW of newbuild renewable solar PV and wind, and is expected to produce a combined 800,000 tons of green ammonia and methanol annually. In the first phase of the project, about 200,000 tons of renewable ammonia will be produced each year, powered by combined solar PV (50 MW installed capacity with above 1300 utilization hours) and wind (750 MW with above 3000 utilization hours).

The Songyuan project is expected to be RFNBO-compliant, as it will be mainly powered by additional off-grid renewable electricity, supported by batteries and hydrogen buffer storage. CEEC Hydrogen Energy has developed a “multi-stable flexible control strategy for large-scale ammonia production”, to match the relatively inflexible ammonia synthesis process with the volatility of renewable energy. CEEC has set up a joint R&D center with the Sunan Institute for Molecular Engineering of Peking University, to further optimize flexible operations during renewable molecules production.

Click to enlarge. CEEC’s Songyuan project: graphic rendering (left), and aerial construction photograph as of mid-2025 (right). Source: CEEC.

The first phase of the Songyuan project has an investment value of around $1 billion. The Songyuan project was selected as a national demonstration project (under the “Green and Low-carbon Advanced Technology Demonstration Projects” scheme) by the National Development and Reform Commission, and has received 100 million yuan ($14 million) in financial support. The funds were raised by the central government of China through the issuance of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds.

As of the end of June 2025, the first phase of the Songyuan project has reached an overall completion rate of 80%. The solar PV system installation has been completed, and the wind farm installation has reached 80% completion. The air separation unit (ASU) for nitrogen purification and the Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis loop have both been installed, as well as the hydrogen storage tanks and ammonia storage tanks. The electrolyzers for hydrogen production are being received. Equipment commissioning is planned for July 2025, with trial operations planned for September 2025.

Expansion of the Songyuan project is already planned, with phase two of the Songyuan project set to produce 600,000 tons of renewable ammonia yearly from 2027 onwards. FEED work for phase two of the Songyuan project has already been completed.

The Songyuan Phase I Project is planned to be put into operation in the second half of 2025, with an annual output of 35,000 tons of green hydrogen and 200,000 tons of green ammonia. It can help realize the local consumption and high value-added conversion of green power, and also strengthen the linkage of the hydrogen energy industry chain.

Li Jingguang, Chairman of CEEC Hydrogen Energy, interviewed by CCTV Morning News (April 14th 2025)

Other projects

CEEC is developing projects in other regions of China as well, with projects in various northern Chinese provinces. Among these, its project in Chifeng is the most advanced. The FEED has already been completed, which is expected to start in 2026 and will have a yearly production of 130,000 tons of renewable ammonia.

Ammonia terminal in Panjin Port

Click to enlarge. Ammonia transport from CEEC’s renewable ammonia production projects to Panjin Port in northern China. Source: CEEC.

The renewable ammonia produced in Chifeng and Songyuan will be transported to Panjin Port, located on Liaodong Bay in northern China. CEEC co-owns the ammonia storage terminal in Panjin Port with logistics company ADF, consisting of a 80,000 m3 refrigerated storage tank (around 54,600 tons ammonia) and two 3,000 m3 pressurized tanks (around 1,400 tons ammonia each). Vessels with a capacity up to 50,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) can moor in the ammonia loading jetty.

Initial transportation from the first project in Songyuan to Panjin Port (around 630 km) will occur via trucks, while the aim is to transition to transport by rail from 2027 onward. The distance from Chifeng to Panjin is about 330 km.

In April 2024, CEEC Hydrogen Energy jointly initiated the establishment of the “Northeast Asia Green Bunkering Fuel Supply Chain Alliance”, along with the Transportation Department of Liaoning Province, Liaoning Maritime Safety Administration, Dalian Customs, China Classification Society, Liaoning Port Group, among other members (with CEEC acting as initial chair). The aim of the Northeast Asia Green Bunkering Fuel Supply Chain Alliance is to connect the northeast of China – with its abundant solar PV, wind, and biomass resources – to demand centers in the Yangtze River Economic Belt in the Middle of China, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the South of China. The Northeast Asia Green Bunkering Fuel Supply Chain Alliance aims to establish a green maritime fuel bunkering hub in the region.