New details about Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ Murchison PtX project have emerged in a recent planning proposal submitted to Western Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority. 5.2 GW of wind and solar generating capacity will power the production of 2 million tonnes per year of renewable ammonia for export from Australia.
Colombian fertiliser producer Monómeros has signed an MoU with local power utility APBAQ to develop a renewable ammonia project near the city of Barranquilla, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. The project will be powered by a 350 MW offshore wind farm being developed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
Australia-based Aviation H2 have selected the use of liquid ammonia to turbofan combustion as the best pathway forward for developing hydrogen-powered aircraft. Based on the existing Dassault Falcon 50, Aviation H2 aims to have the converted aircraft in the skies by mid-2023.
This week we explore announcements about novel electrolyser technologies (Advanced Ionics), funding announcements from Europe (ITM Power, Battolyser and Sunfire), and some gigawatt-scale expansions in manufacturing capacities (Hydrogen Optimized, Nel, Cummins and Sinopec).
LSB Industries’ existing El Dorado ammonia production plant will be retrofitted to allow capture and sequestration of CO2 emissions as part of a new partnership with Lapis Energy. Once operational in 2025, more than 375,000 tonnes CCS ammonia will be produced per year - about 75% of El Dorado’s total ammonia production capacity. El Dorado becomes the third publicly announced CCS ammonia plant in the US, with CF Industries and Air Products announcing projects last year.
Vietnamese renewable energy project developer The Green Solutions will partner with ECONNECT Energy, thyssenkrupp and Black & Veatch to develop a new renewable hydrogen & ammonia production plant in Tra Vinh province, Vietnam.
A few hundred kilometers to the north, Singapore-based Enterprize Energy is developing a significant offshore wind project with both grid generating and Power-to-X elements. The 3.4 GW Thang Long wind farm will produce grid electricity, renewable hydrogen for local markets and renewable ammonia for export.
CWP Global has selected US-based engineering organisation Bechtel to support the development of large-scale green hydrogen and ammonia facilities in northwest Africa. CWP Global is leading development of two Supergiants in the region: the AMAN project in Mauritania (renewable ammonia), and the AMUN project in Morocco (renewable fertilisers). In other engineering news, Total Eren has selected UK-based Wood to develop the production complex for its H2 Magallanes project. Wood is already engaged in two significant blue ammonia projects (Al Ruwais, UAE, and the Barents Blue project in Norway).
TÜV Rheinland has issued a world-first “Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia Certificate” to Scatec & ACME’s solar ammonia mega-project in Oman. The greenfield project has met all criteria for TÜV’s H2.21 Carbon-Neutral Hydrogen standard. The certification will allow Scatec & ACME better access to key international markets. In related news, Dutch hydrogen trading platform HyXchange has delivered its very first green hydrogen certificate as work continues to implement its Guarantee of Origin scheme.
A series of new announcements illustrates the growing importance of Egypt, the Suez Gulf and the area designated the Suez Canal Economic Zone to the ammonia energy transition:
Two sets of academic analyses highlight the huge potential for renewable energy and ammonia fuel to wean island states off fossil fuel use. Researchers from the University of Twente propose a highly-integrated energy generation and storage system for the Caribbean nation of Curaçao, with battery storage and ammonia fuel to offset periods of low wind-power output. On the Canary Islands, researchers from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria present their concept for a “hexa-generation” energy system to produce electricity, water, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and - ultimately - ammonia.