Thanks to Indian news channel CNBCTV18, take a three-minute tour of ACME Group’s green hydrogen & ammonia production plant in Bikaner, Rajasthan. The demonstration-sized facility is the first green hydrogen plant in India, powered by 5 MW of solar panels.
Indonesia’s state-owned fertiliser manufacturer will join forces with Mitsubishi Corporation to explore the feasibility of hydrogen & ammonia supply chains in the country: both renewable and CCUS-based. The new partnership aims to reduce coal utilisation at existing thermal power plants via co-firing with ammonia, helping Indonesia to meet its emissions reduction targets.
Two developments this week as progress continues towards clean ammonia supply chains between the EU and the Middle East:
1. ADNOC signed multiple agreements with a diverse set of German organisations to study, implement and accelerate clean hydrogen supply chains between Germany and the UAE. Among the agreements is the execution of a blue ammonia “demonstration cargo” shipment from the UAE to Germany this year, via Fertiglobe’s Fertil plant in al Ruwais, UAE.
2. The UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation signed a new MoU on hydrogen energy, with a view to supplying Europe via green hydrogen & ammonia imports into the Port of Rotterdam.
Three key first-movers at Ammonia Energy - NEOM, Yara and Fertiberia - have all made significant steps towards green ammonia production in recent times. With the launch of a new subsidiary to develop hydrogen & ammonia production, NEOM can possibly begin construction of its green hydrogen plant this month. Also this week, Yara held a groundbreaking ceremony at Heroya, with the intention to bring green ammonia and fertilisers to market by mid-2023. And a few months ago in December, green hydrogen storage tanks arrived at Fertiberia’s Puertollano ammonia plant, ready for installation.
Orica and Origin Energy will collaborate on feasibility work and development of the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub in Newcastle, Australia. A grid-connected, 55 MW electrolyser will produce green hydrogen from recycled water, with hydrogen to be fed into Orica’s existing ammonia production plant on Kooragang Island. Grid-connected hydrogen production facilities in Newcastle stand to gain access to surplus amounts of renewable electricity in the coming years, with huge commercial investment interest in the under-development Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone.
RWE is accelerating plans for a green ammonia import terminal in Brunsbüttel, with facilities to be ready to receive 300,000 tonnes per year as early as 2026. Although the immediate focus for Brunsbüttel is a new LNG import facility, RWE indicates that the ultimate goal is complete conversion of the site to only import “green molecules” like ammonia. Brunsbüttel has already been identified as a likely destination for green ammonia exports from South Australia. And, an ongoing feasibility study by the Australian-German HySupply consortium has released interim results suggesting that shipping costs for Australian ammonia to the EU will be much lower than first thought.
Meet Grieg Maritime and Wärtsilä as we discuss ZEED: Zero Emission Energy Distribution at Sea. The Norway-based consortium is developing two flagship projects: the design and build of the MS Green Ammonia, and the development of an onshore ammonia fuel supply chain out of Berlevåg harbour.
Scatec will partner with a series of Egyptian government entities to develop a green ammonia plant in Ain Sokhna, adjacent to the Suez Canal. The project partners have already indicated that the one million per year facility could be expanded in the future to a production capacity of three million tonnes of green ammonia. Growing green ammonia markets in European & Asia are being targeted as export destinations.
Scatec will enter into a 50:50 joint venture with ACME to design, develop, build, own and operate a planned large-scale, green ammonia facility in the Duqm Special Economic Zone of Oman. At full capacity the facility will produce 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia per year, and the partners aspire to be “one of the first” commercial green ammonia facilities operating in the world. Advanced discussions for long-term off-take are already in progress. The project was launched last March by ACME and Oman government authority Tatweer, and added KBR as technology partner last October.
Green Hydrogen International will lead development of the world’s largest green hydrogen production & storage hub in Duval County, Texas. Hydrogen City features 60 GW of solar & wind energy generation, which will power production of 2.5 million tonnes of green hydrogen. Salt cavern storage and ammonia production are among the target end-uses, with green ammonia to be exported to international markets from the Port of Corpus Christi. A similar, GW-scale project is already under development in Corpus Christi: the Gulf Coast green fuels hub.