Site items in: Australia

Fortescue's ammonia locomotive one step closer
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R&D for ammonia-powered locomotives is full steam ahead in Perth, as Fortescue Future Industries moves onto converting two four-stroke, diesel locomotives to run on ammonia fuel. Deployment of an ammonia-powered demonstration locomotive within their current rail operations is planned for later this year. In other FFI news this week, a technical feasibility study has given the thumbs up for FFI to convert Incitec Pivot's existing Gibson Island ammonia production plant to a green ammonia facility, and a new agreement between Australian energy giant AGL and FFI will see the pair turn the current Liddell and Bayswater coal power stations into a huge green hydrogen hub near Newcastle, NSW.

Producing cheap, clean hydrogen: new updates
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Three new updates this week:

1. A team at Durham University has shown that a massive scale-up of PEM electrolyser manufacturing capability can slash the capital costs of producing electrolyser units by up to 70%.

2. A team from the University of Campinas has proposed more focus on electrolysis of waste and seawater to produce hydrogen, avoiding direct competition between drinking water and hydrogen production.

3. A team from the Australian National University has demonstrated a new pathway forward for hydrogen production directly from sunlight by demonstrating a stable, efficient photocatalyst.

Green ammonia port hubs in the UK and Australia
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H2 Green will develop a renewable energy hub at the Port of Shoreham in West Sussex. The initial focus will be the electrification and use of hydrogen fuel in the Port's vehicle fleet (heavy forklifts and trucks), before expanding to accommodate the ~800 heavy goods vehicles that enter the port daily. The second phase will be an ammonia import facility to meet growing demands for hydrogen fuel in the surrounds. In Australia, the Geelong Hydrogen Hub will be developed by CAC-H2, a developer who is also planning two carbon-negative, waste-to-ammonia projects in Australia. The Geelong Hub includes multiple, new-build infrastructure elements including import/export & cracking facilities. Similar to Shoreham, import of green ammonia to meet growing demand for hydrogen fuel is the second phase of the project.

6 GW green export project planned for South Australia
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The Moolawatana Renewable Hydrogen Project will be constructed on a cattle station north some 570km north of Adelaide, South Australia's capital city. Powered by a mixture of wind and solar generation, the project will connect to an export facility at Port Bonython (around 500km in distance) via pipeline. Water will be sourced from an on-site desalination plant. At this stage, the pipeline will be for dedicated hydrogen transport, and conversion to ammonia will take place at Port Bonython. The Port is being developed as a major hydrogen & ammonia export hub, with the SA state government recently shortlisting seven major projects totaling 1.5 million tonnes per year green hydrogen export.

Fortescue Future Industries powers ahead on green ammonia
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Fortescue Future Industries has been hitting the Ammonia Energy headlines of late. All of these various announcements point towards a singular target, announced in June by Fortescue Chairman Andrew Forrest: the supply of 15 million tonnes green hydrogen to global markets by 2030. Taken on their own these are significant steps, but COP26 was also the stage for a number of other significant ammonia and hydrogen-related announcements by FFI. Over the last fortnight we've seen the launch of green ammonia production projects in Papua New Guinea, Jordan & Argentina, buyers announced for a full 10% of FFI's global green hydrogen production, a partnership to decarbonise aviation and more developments in the electrolyser space.

Fortescue, LMG Marin and Eidesvik to launch ammonia-powered ships
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Four ammonia-powered ships were announced this week, with a mixture of retrofits and newbuilds. Fortescue Future Industries will convert the MMA Leveque to run on near 100% ammonia fuel within 12 months. Grieg Maritime and Wartsila's MS Green Ammonia vessel has a designer, with LMG Marin engaged to complete a concept by mid next year. And Eidesvik, Aker BP and Alma (formerly Prototech AS) have joined forces to deploy the ammonia-fed fuel cell technology being developed for the Viking Energy project.

Woodside outlines scale for green ammonia project in Tasmania
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Woodside Energy secured land this week for its H2TAS project in Bell Bay, Tasmania. A long-term lease on a partially-cleared project site nearby the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone will be home to up to 1.7 GW of electrolysers, and a target production of 200,000 tonnes per year green ammonia. Last month Woodside also announced the H2Perth project: a world-scale, 1,500 tonnes per day hydrogen production facility aimed at local markets for refueling fuel cell vehicles, and international markets via export in the form of liquefied hydrogen or ammonia.