Founding investors including EIT InnoEnergy, Maire Tecnimont, Siemens and Heineken have launched FertigHy - a new consortium aiming to build and operate large-scale fertiliser projects to supply the EU agricultural sector. The first project will be developed in Spain, producing more than one million metric tonnes per year of low-carbon, nitrogen-based fertilisers for the EU market.
Allianz will invest €20 million in Fuella, a Norway-based project developer currently working on two renewable ammonia production projects. Fuella’s plants in Skipavika (100,000 tonnes per year) and Korgen (200,000 tonnes) will utilise renewable electricity from Norway’s grid to produce ammonia. The projects will target the marine fuels & fertiliser sectors.
Hy2gen’s latest ammonia project will feature 200 MW of electrolysers powered by offgrid wind and solar energy, producing 180,000 tonnes of renewable ammonia per year for export to the EU. Local wind developer Mexion Corporation and German development agency GIZ will partner with Hy2gen to proceed with feasibility studies.
OCP Group will build a $7 billion ammonia production facility near Tarfaya in Morocco's south. Powered by 3.8 GW of wind and solar energy, 200,000 tonnes per year of renewable ammonia will be produced from 2026, rising to 3 million tonnes per year from 2032.
The pair will develop an 850,000 tonnes per year renewable ammonia production facility in Queensland, Australia. The ammonia will be used domestically by IPL, exported to Singapore for use in Keppel’s under-development power generation projects, or sold to customers in Asia for energy needs. The source of the renewable hydrogen feedstock will be the nearby Central Queensland hydrogen mega-project. In other news, H2U will collaborate with the local first nations community on its own mega-project in the area: H2-Hub™ Gladstone.
A consortium of Danish and Indonesian companies - including Topsoe, Copenhagen Atomics, Pupuk and Pertamina - will collaborate to develop a 1 million tonnes per year, nuclear-powered ammonia project for fertiliser production in Bontang, Indonesia. Copenhagen Atomics’ thorium molten salt reactors will power 1 GW of solid oxide electrolysis capacity.
While the opportunity for Australia to become a world-leading exporter of green molecules is well-established, State of Hydrogen 2022 suggests the best progress to date has been made on a domestic opportunity: decarbonisation of existing ammonia production within Australia. Government support for emerging hydrogen hubs, workforce training and regulatory updates are highlighted as key next steps.
The Verdigris Complex renewable ammonia project aims to leverage NextEra’s renewable energy expertise and CF Industries’ experience as a leading ammonia producer to produce zero-carbon fertiliser for US agriculture, boosted by favourable policies included in the Inflation Reduction Act.
KBR has been selected as technology provider for two future production projects in Texas and Washington state. At the Port of Galveston, Texas Green Fuels has begun pre-FEED work and sourcing renewable electricity for its fuels export complex. And in Nova Scotia, Bear Head Energy has received environmental approval to proceed with its 2 million tonnes per year production project near Point Tupper.
Although a globally significant ammonia producer, India still relies on ammonia & fertilizer imports to support its agricultural sector. In our recent episode of Ammonia Project Features, we explored the potential of domestically-produced renewable ammonia to both replace these imports and position India as an ammonia energy giant. Excellent solar PV resources, plentiful government support and access to “round-the-clock” renewables were all highlighted as key drivers for India to meet its renewable ammonia potential.