In a national address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the new National Hydrogen Mission would be a key pillar of his government's plan for India to achieve energy independence within 25 years. The plan would mean would mean India produces around 1.3 million tonnes of green ammonia by the end of the decade, requiring several GW of dedicated electrolysers to supply the necessary green hydrogen.
Australia-based Origin Energy and shipping company Mitsui O.S.K Lines (MOL) have joined forces to explore where they can develop the green ammonia supply chain between Australia and Asia. The new joint study (to be completed by the end of this year) will also determine the feasibility of Australian green ammonia export projects supplying key markets by 2026.
Itochu will purchase blue ammonia from Abu Dhabi, under a new agreement with OCI NV and ADNOC. Itochu will also team up with Petronas Canada (subsidiary of the Malaysian state energy company) will team up for a feasibility study into a 1 million tonne per year blue ammonia production plant in Alberta.
Two new partnerships for Fortescue Future Industries this week. In India, they will partner with JSW Energy will partner up to explore opportunities to develop green hydrogen projects, while in New Zealand they will work with the local Māori community (Murihiku Hapu of Ngāi Tahu) on a proposal to construct a large-scale green hydrogen project in Southland, to be operational by 2025.
In early June, Itochu was part of a group of 23 founding signatories that kicked off a joint study into the feasibility of ammonia as a maritime fuel. This week that group has grown to 34. It now includes significant stakeholders from a diverse range of sectors: energy, mining, steel, power utility, chemicals manufacturing & distribution, shipbuilding, maritime terminals, maritime classification societies and of course maritime fuel production, supply & distribution.
Applications are now open for the H2 Challenge - an initiative set to identify the best hydrogen-related projects from across the globe for funding support. The Challenge is open for applications from: International startups from Pre-Seed to Series C+ stages, university teams/academia and strategic partners (established SMEs) that develop hardware and/or software solutions across multiple use cases and projects within the hydrogen value chain - Production, Transportation & Storage, End-use Applications, Carbon Capture Utilisation & Storage, or Ammonia Applications.
Woodside Energy, JOGMEC, Marubeni and two Japanese power utilities signed a joint research agreement this week to investigate the feasibility of a blue ammonia supply chain between Australia and Japan.
Two members of the newly-launched Korean Green Ammonia Alliance - Doosan and POSCO - signed an MoU this week with the Pohang-based Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST) to develop "Clean Ammonia-Fueled Gas Turbines".