Spain-based explosives and chemicals manufacturer Maxam has announced the inauguration of a new renewable ammonia plant at its manufacturing site outside Burgos in the north of the country. The containerised, modular unit produces ammonia from electricity, air and water, and was provided by TalusAg.
An “entire cargo” of 23,000 tons of ammonia was transferred from NYK’s ammonia carrier Berlian Ekuator to Trammo’s ammonia carrier Eco Enchanted, operated by Trammo. This is NYK’s first STS operation using ammonia.
Winning projects in the second round of the EU Hydrogen Bank auction have been announced. Requesting production subsidies similar to first round winners, fifteen renewable hydrogen projects will be funded over ten years, including two ammonia projects led by IGNIS in Spain. A third auction round is set to launch later this year.
More than half the awarded funding goes towards ammonia, including GW-scale projects led by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Moeve. IGNIS has also won funding for its maritime fuel-focused project in Coruña.
In our latest episode of Project Features, we explored the FertigHy consortium’s plans to construct its first grid-connected ammonia and fertilizer plant in northern France. Using electrolytic hydrogen produced from France’s renewable and nuclear-dominated grid, FertigHy will provide long-term, fixed-price fertilizer supplies to the EU, reducing dependence on imports. Technology licensor and project partner Stamicarbon explored considerations for low-emission ammonia plants, and the technology sets available.
As part of a new agreement with the Spanish government, Envision Energy will develop a fully integrated green industrial park in Spain, producing key renewable technologies for renewable hydrogen projects in Europe. In Namibia, Envision and Zhero will collaborate on a 500,000 tons per year renewable ammonia plant, to be located near Walvis Bay.
Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has outlined a new subsidy program to help establish valleys or clusters for renewable hydrogen production. €1.2 billion in direct capital investment assistance will be allocated across a minimum of three projects, with an auction process to launch later this year.
In its quarterly earnings call last month, bp unveiled progress in a number of key renewable hydrogen and ammonia projects. To help decarbonise its existing refinery in Castellón, Spain, a bp and Iberdrola-led consortium has taken FID on the HyVal project. bp also revealed that it will take an equity share and act as operator for the HYPORT Duqm project: a GW-scale ammonia export project being developed in southern Oman.
In our May episode of Project Features, H2SITE joined us to explore the development history of their Palladium membrane-based, ammonia cracking technology. Learn more about the deployment of this technology at a hydrogen vehicle refueling site in the UK, plus plans for scaling-up the technology to produce tons per day of fuel-cell grade hydrogen from ammonia.