Incitec Pivot

Fortescue Future Industries and Incitec Pivot will progress plans to convert the Gibson Island ammonia production facility to run on renewable hydrogen feedstock. A grant from Australian government body ARENA will help FEED work begin immediately, with FID expected around 2025. We also explore more renewable project updates from Peru and Chile.

Fortescue Future Industries’ 2 GW per annum electrolyser manufacturing plant in Queensland has officially broken ground in construction, and is on track to begin operations next year. FFI and Plug Power are equal partners in the electrolyser plant, which will manufacture Plug Power’s electrolyser units. The first electrolyser units off the process line in 2023 have already been earmarked for installation at FFI’s planned green hydrogen production facility in Gibson Island, Brisbane, next door to Incitec Pivot Limited’s existing ammonia plant. Agreements between FFI and state-owned power utilities were signed this week to plug Gibson Island electrolysers into Queensland’s power grid.

Incitec Pivot, Keppel Infrastructure and Temasek signed a new MoU this week to investigate the production and export of green ammonia from Australia to Singapore. Incitec Pivot's existing Kooragang Island facility in Newcastle, Australia could be one source, with the other being a potential greenfield site in Gladstone. Green ammonia production also represents a potential lifeline for Incitec Pivot's Gibson Island plant in Brisbane, which will cease conventional ammonia production by the end of 2022.

Last week we presented the first episode in our monthly webinar series: Ammonia Energy Live. Every month we’ll explore the wonderful world of ammonia energy and the role it will play in global decarbonisation - with an Australian twist. To kick things off we wanted to set the scene for 2021 and give you a sense of where the ammonia transition is at - key projects, key milestones and things to be excited about going forward. And, since this is an Australian-focused series, we wanted to explore what’s important about Australia to the ongoing work of the AEA.

Green ammonia plants are being announced quicker than I can report. Here is a summary of four new projects that propose to use electrolyzers, fed by renewable power, to produce hydrogen for ammonia production. These are big companies, operating in regions with excellent renewable resources, making significant investments in their future. In Chile, it is Enaex, a major ammonium nitrate manufacturer, supplying explosives to the mining industry. In Australia, it is Incitec Pivot, "the second largest supplier of explosives products and services in the world," and Wesfarmers, "the largest Australian company by revenue," according to Wikipedia. In New Zealand, it is Ballance-Agri Nutrients, a big farmers' co-operative and the country's sole fertilizer producer. Each aims to make its business "future-proof." The transition from fossil ammonia to renewable ammonia is underway.