Four ammonia-powered ships were announced this week, with a mixture of retrofits and newbuilds. Fortescue Future Industries will convert the MMA Leveque to run on near 100% ammonia fuel within 12 months. Grieg Maritime and Wartsila's MS Green Ammonia vessel has a designer, with LMG Marin engaged to complete a concept by mid next year. And Eidesvik, Aker BP and Alma (formerly Prototech AS) have joined forces to deploy the ammonia-fed fuel cell technology being developed for the Viking Energy project.

Eidesvik Offshore and Wärtsilä will cooperate in the world's first ammonia conversion project, with an existing offshore supply vessel (OSV) to be retrofitted with an ammonia-fueled combustion engine, fuel supply and safety system. The project has a completion date of late 2023. In the engine space, MAN ES has signed a new agreement with Mitsui E&S and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) to have purchase contracts for its low-speed, ammonia-fueled main vessel engine finalised in 2023.

Last week we presented the first episode in our monthly webinar series: Ammonia Energy Live. Every month we’ll explore the wonderful world of ammonia energy and the role it will play in global decarbonisation - with an Australian twist. To kick things off we wanted to set the scene for 2021 and give you a sense of where the ammonia transition is at - key projects, key milestones and things to be excited about going forward. And, since this is an Australian-focused series, we wanted to explore what’s important about Australia to the ongoing work of the AEA.

This morning, it was announced that the "Viking Energy," a supply vessel for Equinor's offshore operations, will be modified to run on a 2 MW direct ammonia fuel cell. This will be a five year project: the technology will be scaled-up on land before being installed on the vessel, which will begin a year of GHG emission-free operations in 2024. The Norwegian partners leading this "world's first" project include shipowner Eidesvik, contractor Equinor, and ammonia producer Yara, as well as Wärtsilä (Wärtsilä Norway), responsible for power technology and ammonia storage and distribution systems, and Prototech, delivering the fuel cell system.