bp to acquire majority stake & operatorship of Asian Renewable Energy Hub

By Julian Atchison on June 21, 2022

Renewable ammonia at oil & gas scale

Click to learn more about the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, with bp to become the project’s operator from next month. Source: bp.
Click to learn more about the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, with bp to become the project’s operator from next month. Source: bp.

bp will acquire a 40.5% equity stake in and become operator of the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), after reaching an agreement with project partners InterContinental Energy, CWP Global and Macquarie Capital. Subject to approvals, bp will assume operatorship from next month. At full-scale AREH will feature some eye-catching numbers, with 26 GW of combined wind + solar generating capacity powering the annual production of:

  • 90 TWh of renewable electricity,
  • 1.6 million tonnes electrolytic hydrogen,
  • and up to 9 million tonnes of renewable ammonia for export.

AREH is set to be one of the largest renewable and green hydrogen energy hubs in the world and can make a significant contribution to Australia and the wider Asia Pacific region’s energy transition. It truly reflects what integrated energy is – combining solar and onshore wind power with hydrogen production and using it to help transform sectors and regions. It also reflects our belief that Australia has the potential to be a powerhouse in the global energy transition, benefiting from both its existing infrastructure and abundant renewable energy resources.

bp Executive Vice President of Gas & Low-carbon Energy Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, in her organisation’s official press release, 15 June 2022

bp brings the resources and capability to fulfill our long-held vision of the competitive production of green fuels at oil-and-gas scale from the AREH project.

From InterContinental Energy’s official press release (download pdf), 15 June 2022

Project history

After an extensive search, the site of AREH in far-north Western Australia was settled on in 2014, and project development began in earnest. In August 2020 the state EPA approved the initial size of the project (15 GW generating capacity). By October 2020 the project had expanded to 26 GW, with a renewable ammonia production capacity of more than 9 million tonnes per year. In December 2020, InterContinental Energy MD Alex Tancock presented the “Green Supergiant” to attendees at the Ammonia Energy Conference, giving us a clearer picture of what renewable ammonia looks like at oil & gas scale. Project partners InterContinental Energy and CWP Global have all been working hard in the background since, and the arrival of new majority owner bp marks an exciting new stage as the project works towards FID in 2025.