ACWA Power and the Uzbek government will jointly develop a pilot-scale renewable hydrogen facility, which is to be integrated with an existing ammonia & fertilizer plant outside the country’s capital Tashkent. The pair will also explore the feasibility of a 500,000 tonnes per year renewable ammonia facility in the Central Asian country.
In maritime ammonia updates this week:
Topse & Mintal Hydrogen will develop a dynamic, renewable ammonia plant in Baotou, China. Similar to Topsoe’s project in Skovgaard (Denmark), the electrolyser plant in Baotou will be directly connected to renewable energy generation, with production to begin in 2025.
GE and IHI will define a technology roadmap to convert existing GE gas turbine models to run on up to 100% ammonia fuel by 2030, with implementation & testing of prototypes to follow. A “retrofittable” ammonia combustion system will be developed for three utility-scale GE models, with the potential to roll the technology out across GE’s existing Asian turbine fleet.
JERA has signed MoUs this week with two significant ammonia producers, potentially securing the supply of one million tonnes of clean ammonia fuel to Japan each year from 2027. JERA has signed exploratory agreements for 500,000 tonnes of clean ammonia fuel each with CF Industries and Yara Clean Ammonia, and will also explore investment options in greenfield mega-projects on the US Gulf Coast.
New import terminals, energy hubs, bunker facilities & upgrades to existing ammonia storage facilities are underway across Europe. This week, we explore new project announcements in Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbüttel, Rotterdam and Immingham. We visit Taiwan for another ammonia import terminal announcement, and look at a new partnership between thyssenkrupp and ADNOC to deploy large-scale cracking - the “last piece of the puzzle” for global ammonia trading.
INPEX has selected Tsubame BHB and Air Liquide as technology providers for the demonstration project, which will utilise autothermal reforming technology and CCS in depleted gas fields to produce around 500 tonnes of ammonia per year. JOGMEC and NEDO are also supporting the project, with the goal of gaining operational experience with CCS in Japan.