The East Kimberley Clean Energy project will leverage the region’s solar & freshwater resources and an ‘export-ready’ harbour to create the renewable ammonia production hub. Construction is expected by the end of 2025, and production by the end of 2028. The project will be part owned & operated by traditional landowners.
Our June episode of Ammonia Project Features focused on a new project in Niigata prefecture, which will demonstrate low-carbon, fossil-based ammonia production with a capacity of 500 tonnes per year. As part of the project, Japanese government organization JOGMEC will work with INPEX to develop enhanced gas recovery & CO2 sequestration monitoring technologies. Tsubame BHB will deploy its low-temperature, low-pressure ammonia synthesis technology based on an electride-supported catalyst developed at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Three wind farms totalling 530 MW will be developed in partnership with RES & First Nation communities to help power the first phase of EverWind Fuel’s mega-project in Point Tupper. EverWind is also planning the development of a further 2 GW of onshore wind energy, plus a 300 MW solar farm. Ammonia from Point Tupper will be exported to the EU, beginning in 2025.
Hy2gen’s latest ammonia project will feature 200 MW of electrolysers powered by offgrid wind and solar energy, producing 180,000 tonnes of renewable ammonia per year for export to the EU. Local wind developer Mexion Corporation and German development agency GIZ will partner with Hy2gen to proceed with feasibility studies.
Set to reach FID in 2027, the WGEH project will seek to utilise local wind & solar resources and policy incentives in Western Australia to deliver up to 20 million tonnes of renewable ammonia annually. Korea Electric Power Corporation has agreed to jointly develop the project.
The IMO member states have agreed to a new roadmap for the decarbonisation of the global shipping sector, including emissions reduction targets to be met in 2030 and 2040. It was also established that a well-to-wake approach will be the basis for the lifecycle analysis of maritime fuels going forward, with the uptake of near or zero-carbon alternative technologies & fuels to account for 5 - 10% of the global shipping sector by 2030.
A fast-growing ecosystem of startups is progressing various technology pathways in Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne-based Jupiter Ionics is developing an electrolytic cell that will directly reduce nitrogen to ammonia under mild temperature and pressure conditions. In New Zealand, Liquium is embarking on a pilot-scale deployment of its miniaturised Haber Bosch technology. The University of Newcastle and Element One are progressing validation and pilot-phase deployments of AMMONIAC - a novel, “chemical-looping” ammonia production system. And in Sydney, PlasmaLeap is developing a plasma-based system, with on-farm trials already planned.
Origin Energy has been awarded AUD70 million in funding from the Australian federal government to progress the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub. The electrolytic hydrogen facility will be located next door to project partner Orica’s existing complex on Kooragang Island in Newcastle, and the bulk of hydrogen produced will be used for ammonia production. Learn more from Orica (and take a tour of their site) at this year's APAC conference.
At capacity, the Jordan Green Ammonia facility will produce between 100,000 – 200,000 tonnes of renewable ammonia per year, powered by 530 MW of solar energy. The ammonia produced will be used both locally and for export to the European market.
In the next three years, thanks to the UK Department of Energy funding, Cardiff University will partner with Flogas to scale its ammonia boiler technology, and deploy in the UK industrial heating market.