Renewable ammonia in Portugal

MadoquaPower2X

Madoqua Renewables, Power2X and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners will jointly develop a new green hydrogen & ammonia project in Sines, Portugal (Spanish language). In its first phase, the MadoquaPower2X project will use renewable energy and alkaline water electrolysis (500 MW) to produce 50,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year from a facility in the Industrial and Logistics Zone of Sines on Portugal’s southwest coast.

Hydrogen production will be integrated with a conventional Haber Bosch synthesis plant to produce up to 500,000 tonnes of ammonia per year, with an expansion phase to double that capacity. Project developers indicate that hydrogen may be acquired from third parties, with a hydrogen transport pipeline currently under development by Portugal’s national grid operator REN. A final investment decision is due in 2023, with production from the project’s first phase to start in 2024.

The hydrogen produced under this project “may be used by the local industry, transported by the Sines hydrogen gas pipeline, currently being developed by REN, integrated into the existing natural gas network or processed to create green ammonia for export from the Sines port terminal…

Electricity for MadoquaPower2X will be sourced from renewable generation projects in Portugal, in particular through renewable energy communities with wind and solar farms that will be developed in parallel,” the consortium said.

This investment will ensure “significant contributions to the National Strategy for Hydrogen (EN-H2) until 2030”, guaranteeing “25% of the total planned electrolysis capacity”, they reinforced.

“Consórcio com projeto de 1.000 milhões em Sines para produzir hidrogénio e amónia verdes”, Jornal de Negócios 18 Apr 2022 (translated from Portuguese by Google Translate)

Renewable ammonia on the Iberian Peninsula

The new announcement from Portugal follows a series of exciting green ammonia developments in Spain:

• The launch of HyDeal España in February, featuring 7.4 GW of installed electrolysers by 2030. Significant off-takers are already locked in for the project.
• Project Catalina (2 GW electrolysers by 2030), which will feed green hydrogen to a newbuild ammonia plant and Fertiberia’s existing ammonia production plant in Sagunto.
• And the imminent production of green ammonia at Fertiberia’s Puertollano fertiliser plant.