Phelan Green Energy: renewable ammonia in Peru

Click to learn more. Phelan Green Energy Chairman Paschal Phelan (second from left) and Peruvian government officials sign the project development agreement. Source: Phelan Green Energy.

Ireland-based Phelan has announced it will develop a $2.4 billion hydrogen and ammonia production project in Peru, based on solar energy generation in the Arequipa region. The Peruvian government has approved the allocation of 4,000 hectares of land (currently owned by the Peruvian Ministry of Defence) to construct the facility, plus 50 hectares for a processing plant in the port of Matarani on Peru’s southern coast. Peruvian authorities have designated the project “Necesidad Publica”, allowing development to be accelerated.

Phelan had previously been developing ammonia projects in five locations, but will now focus its efforts in Peru and Saldanha, South Africa – two locations with “world class solar irradiation”. Each project will initially produce 440,000 tons per year of renewable ammonia, with scale up plans already in place to boost production to 1 million tons per year in each location.

Our goal is to produce the lowest-cost green energy in the world, ensuring a sustainable and economically viable supply to key markets in the EU, Japan, and Peru. This investment marks a significant step towards achieving our goal to be a leading global supplier, for the inevitable huge demand for decarbonized energy, as responsible energy users recognise, the vital necessity, to convert to renewable energy, to address the climate crisis that is now visible daily on TV.

Paschal Phelan, Chairman of Pheland Green Energy, in his organisation’s official press release, 5 July 2024

Green hydrogen production is a valuable opportunity, because it will position Peru for the future, modernize the country’s energy matrix to supply the domestic and export market; in addition to the construction, installation and operation of renewable or conventional electricity generation; it will employ residents of the area and will be one of the main economic activities of the Arequipa region…

The Peruvian market and the Pacific coast can also be supplied, with quality products such as ammonia, low-density ammonia nitrate (Anthlex Grade) for mining. The production of ammonia in Arequipa, in addition to obtaining oxygen with more than 99% purity; generated as a sub-product of nitrate production.

(translated from Spanish by Google) Rohel Sánchez Sánchez, Governor of Arequipa in the Peruvian government’s official press release, 19 May 2024