IHI joins Australian renewable ammonia consortium

IHI Corporation will join the North Queensland Clean Energy Project (HYNQ), a consortium developing an integrated renewable energy, electrolysis and ammonia production and export facility.

The project will be located at Abbot Point, an existing coal export terminal in North Queensland. The port has an existing deep water channel, land availability, road & rail infrastructure, an existing transmission connection to Australia’s national grid, and strong, adjacent solar & wind resources. The location also falls within the Collinsville Renewable Energy Zone, where the Queensland state government has committed $8.5 million of funding towards repurposing existing infrastructure into an integrated, green energy ecosystem.

HYNQ will produce renewable hydrogen using over 1 GW of electrolyser capacity, powered by solar and wind energy. The hydrogen will be used to produce ammonia for export, and also liquid hydrogen for domestic consumption.

Current members of the consortium include Idemitsu Australia, Queensland state government-owned CS Energy and local developer Energy Estate (which is leading the project’s development). The partners are working with a series of potential technology providers, including ECOnnect (jettyless ammonia transfer technology) and Ardent Underground (underground hydrogen storage).

So far, pre-FEED activities have been completed on schedule in Q3 2023. The FEED stage is expected to start in Q1 2024, with FID scheduled for 2025.

Over recent months our consortium has accelerated the development of the HyNQ project and completed a comprehensive pre-FEED study. IHI Corporation is recognised as a global leader and has already demonstrated its commitment to supporting the development of the green hydrogen industry in Australia. We are delighted that IHI is joining CS Energy, Idemitsu and our team at Energy Estate and together we can create a world class green export hub at Abbot Point.

Vincent Dwyer, co-founder of Energy Estate, in HYNQ’s official press release, 14 September 2023

IHI Corporation is a global technology leader in the use of green ammonia to decarbonise industry – in Japan and other markets around the world. We see HyNQ as an opportunity to secure long term supplies of green ammonia for the Japanese market and build upon the foundations of the strong and enduring partnership between Queensland and Japan.

Kensuke Yamamoto, Associated Director of IHI Corporation, in HYNQ’s official press release, 14 September 2023