Kawasaki Heavy Industry's 86,700 m3, LPG and "liquefied ammonia gas" (LAG) carrier has been ordered for the fifth time in 2021. K Line, Eneos (two vessels) and now NYK (also two vessels) will take delivery of the VLGCs from KHI's Sakaide shipyards in 2023 (K Line and Eneos), and 2024 (NYK). The flexibility of the dual-purpose LPG/ammonia carrier is key to its newfound popularity.
South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced ammonia coal co-combustion will be operational in over half the country's coal-fired power generating units by 2030. The government has already set a target of 13.8 - 21.5% of national power generation coming from hydrogen & ammonia-fed gas turbines by 2050 (the 2050 Carbon Neutrality Roadmap was approved in October). To help drive the required commercialisation & technology deployment, MOTIE, KEPCO and other Korean power utilities will collaborate in a ‘Hydrogen and Ammonia Power Generation Demonstration Promotion Group’. In supply news, South Korean oil & gas major GS Energy announced this week is will join ADNOC and Japan-based Mitsui & Co. to develop the million tonne per year blue ammonia project in Al Ruwais, UAE.
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.
Wärtsilä and Simon Møkster Shipping will explore the feasibility of using ammonia as the main fuel in dual fuel engines. Currently Møkster's fleet operates on LNG. In Japan, NYK Line, Japan Engine Corporation, IHI Power Systems, Nihon Shipyards and ClassNK will all collaborate on a demonstration project of ammonia-powered vessels in Japan. First announced in 2020 with three vessel concepts, two of the three vessel designs now have a commercialisation schedule fully defined (the A Tug and the AFAGC).
Acknowledging that a coordinated, national-level approach is urgently needed to create a viable hydrogen industry in Australia, the Australian Hydrogen Council (AHC) has set out a series of recommendations in their new white paper. AHC sees ammonia as playing an important role in an emerging Australian hydrogen industry, particularly as an immediate end-use application for clean hydrogen. We sat down with AHC's CEO Fiona Simon to learn more.
Two new MoUs were signed this week to develop green ammonia export projects in Australia: one between H2U and Gladstone Ports Corporation, and one between Origin Energy and J-POWER.
Yara, JERA and Idemitsu Kosan will collaborate to establish a domestic clean ammonia distribution network and bunkering business in Japan. The distribution network and bunkering will be based at Idemitsu Kosan's Tokuyama Industrial Complex, and builds on an existing partnership between Yara and JERA.
Mitsui & Co., Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) and Wesfarmers will explore the feasibility of a blue ammonia production plant in Western Australia (WA). Emissions from hydrogen production will be stored in depleted gas fields in the Perth Basin (owned by Mitsui).
Under the new MoU, Yara and Kyushu Electric will work to establish clean ammonia supply chains to decarbonise coal-fired power generation in Kyushu, Japan. The MoU also foreshadows the pair will promote the use of ammonia energy solutions in other sectors on Japan's third-largest island.