Having witnessed the extreme climate events this northern hemisphere summer, it was heartening to see momentum for new renewable projects on display in Sao Paulo, where I spoke at a recent conference. In the Netherlands, an important decision on the Porthos project will - hopefully - create space for infrastructure development.
Topsoe will supply its ammonia loop technology to the million tonne per year renewable ammonia project in Newfoundland. Crown lands application approval means that project developers World Energy GH2 have now secured full land capacity for both initial and potential expansion phases for the project.
German energy company EnBW has acquired a 10% equity stake in the SkiGA project, as well as securing long-term offtake rights to the renewable ammonia produced at the Norwegian facility. SkiGA will be completed in 2026, producing 100,000 tonnes per year of renewable ammonia.
New analysis from the Global Maritime Forum has found that the cost gap between ammonia fuel and conventional fuel could be closed as early as 2026 for their new NoGAPS vessel. A series of levers need to be pulled to fully finance NoGAPS and similar vessels (such as long-term charters), but the authors report favorable deals should be readily available. The authors also map out three commercial pathways for NoGAPS to operate, the easiest being exclusive bunkering on the US Gulf Coast.
Mitsui & Co., Mitsui Chemicals, IHI Corporation and the Kansai Electric Power Company will explore the establishment of a hydrogen & ammonia supply chain based in Osaka. Ammonia fuel will be used to decarbonise electricity generation, and cracked to provide a feedstock for other industrial processes like steel-making. In South Korea, a similar partnership is evolving between LOTTE and Air Liquide. You can learn more about the emerging nexus between ammonia cracking and steel-making at our upcoming annual conference in Atlanta, USA.
The pair will jointly develop a 1.3 million tonnes per year renewable ammonia production plant in the Gopalpur Industrial Park in Odisha, northeast India. From the adjacent port, ammonia will be shipped domestically, and exported to key global markets.
Germany’s updated national hydrogen strategy forecasts that hydrogen demand in the country will skyrocket by 2045, including new demand for hydrogen and ammonia power generation. An auction process ending in 2026 will spur the construction of 4.4 GW of “sprinter” power plants around the country, generating electricity from pure hydrogen or ammonia. This will support the continued integration of renewable energy into Germany’s national grid.
Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) electrolysis combines concepts from alkaline and PEM. Although AEM can potentially offer the best of both worlds compared to conventional technology, challenges such as oxygen sensitivity, stack scale-up and current density still need to be addressed. Germany-based Enapter is leading the commercialization of AEM systems, with other electrolyzer manufacturers now developing their own products.
The state government of Andhra Pradesh launched its new hydrogen and ammonia policy in June, including a production target of up to 2 million tonnes per year of renewable ammonia, plus a raft of incentives to attract project developers to the Indian state. The news comes as India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy sets the standard for “green” hydrogen produced in the country.
Earlier this year, the Japanese shipping giant declared a strategic direction which included a substantial role for low carbon ammonia. In our latest episode of Maritime Insights we explored the scope of this new strategy, MOL’s future fuels roadmap, and the wide range of initiatives in play to construct a full value chain for fuel ammonia (including mega-scale production projects).