ADNOC, Currenta GmbH and the North Rhine-Westphalia state government will cooperate on the production, transportation to Germany and subsequent application of low-carbon ammonia fuel. Industrial-scale testing of ammonia fuel for power generation will take place at one of Currenta’s chemical manufacturing sites in the region.
The coalition of industry first-movers has announced three new members and an expanded target for electrolyser deployment (45 GW amongst its members by 2026). Ammonia energy players Power2X, Hy Stor Energy and ReNew Power all joined last month.
The second phase of the NoGAPS project is well underway. Led by the Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, a detailed plan for the design, operation and business case for the future MS NoGAPS vessel will be developed. Construction and delivery is expected in 2024-25. Also in Scandinavia, Viridis Bulk Carriers has been awarded AiP from Bureau Veritas for its ammonia-fueled, short-sea, bulk carrier design.
Masdar joint venture Infinity Power, Germany-based Conjuncta and the government of Mauritania have agreed to develop an export mega-project. Up to 8 million tonnes per year of renewable fuels of non-biological origin will be produced for export to Germany. In Egypt, Masdar’s two million tonne per year ammonia fuel project on the Suez Canal has been fast-tracked via a “golden license”.
UAE-based Ocior Energy will invest $4.86 billion each into two separate, million tonne-per-year renewable ammonia projects in India: one in Andhra Pradesh, the other in Gujarat. Last December, Ocior also signed an MoU to develop a green fuels project in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.
Grieg Star and a series of high-profile maritime consortium partners have assessed the full feasibility for retrofitting a Grieg Star L-Class vessel to run on ammonia fuel. The study concludes that technical & regulatory challenges will not be showstoppers in the transition. A combination of high investment costs, uncertainty over ammonia fuel availability & pricing and slow market development remain the biggest barriers, presenting significant risks for first movers.