Black & Veatch has completed FEED work for Phase 1 of the Point Tupper project in Nova Scotia. With construction on track to begin later this year, ammonia production is expected to commence in 2026: 240,000 tons per year from electrolytic hydrogen powered by onshore renewables. EverWind Fuels also indicates that the project has been pre-certified by CertifHy™, meaning produced ammonia will meet compliance rules for exports to the EU.
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.
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.
Last month brought news of "the world’s first ammonia ready vessel.” According to an American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) press release, the vessel, currently under construction in China, will comply “with the ABS Ammonia Ready Level 1 requirements, indicating it is designed to be converted to run on ammonia in the future.” When completed, the 274-meter ship (and possibly two others of identical design) will join the fleet of Avin International.
Infrastructure is key to realising the full potential of ammonia energy, enabling new markets and expanding the existing ones. By 2050 the hydrogen (and by extension, ammonia) market could be 20 times larger than it is today. What future possibilities are there to expand global ammonia production (currently 180 million tonnes per year) or trade volumes across the world’s oceans (currently 18 million tonnes per year)? On November 18, 2020, the Ammonia Energy Association (AEA) hosted a panel discussion moderated by Daniel Morris from KBR, as well as panel members Anthony Teo from DNV GL, Oliver Hatfield from Argus Media, and Michael Goff from Black & Veatch as part of the recent Ammonia Energy Conference. The panel’s insights from a number of different perspectives - market analytics, ship building and operating, as well as pipeline engineering - demonstrated ammonia's potential to become a low- or zero-carbon fuel of choice for the future. Current infrastructure can be adapted, new infrastructure can be built and operated cheaply, and lessons from previous fuel transitions can be taken on board to make the uptake of ammonia energy as smooth as possible.
