This week we explore three mega-scale production projects planned for Texas. On the Gulf Coast, Avina Clean Hydrogen is developing a 100% renewable-powered ammonia plant. In northern Texas, Air Products and AES are planning a 1.4 GW wind & solar-powered hydrogen production facility targeting the heavy trucking market, and in Beaumont OCI has just broken ground on its new million-tonne-per-year CCS ammonia plant.
Trinidad & Tobago’s National Energy Corporation, the Inter-American Development Bank and KBR have released their findings on how to establish a market for renewable hydrogen in the Caribbean country. Underpinned by a stepwise development of 57 GW of offshore wind power potential, the country could completely displace fossil-based hydrogen with renewable hydrogen in 2052. The 4 million tonnes-per-year production potential would meet industrial demands and lay the foundation for a significant export industry, potentially transforming Trinidad & Tobago into a global energy hub.
Rice University & Syzygy Plasmonics have demonstrated a new copper-iron photocatalyst for ammonia decomposition. The potential to replace expensive, rare materials like ruthenium would be a significant step, and Syzygy aims to couple the new photocatalyst and light-driven, all-electric reactor technology developed at Rice to decarbonise chemical & fuel production. It’s been a big month for Syzygy, which also closed a successful, $76 million Series C funding round, with Aramco, Chevron, LOTTE and Toyota all participating.
The Canadian government has proposed a significant tax credit for hydrogen production in the country - at least 40% if all conditions are met. Citing the Infrastructure Reduction Act in the US, the Department of Finance sees adoption of “competitive” measures as critical to make sure Canada is not “left behind”. The government will shortly launch industry consultation on how best to implement the tax credit, based on lifecycle carbon intensity of hydrogen.
Clean Hydrogen Works, Denbury and Hafnia will jointly develop a world-scale ammonia production project near Donaldsonville, Louisiana. The Ascension Clean Energy (ACE) project will total $7.5 billion in investment and produce 7.1 million tonnes of CCS ammonia per year.
Amogy’s ammonia-to-power system will be retrofitted onto a tank barge operated by Southern Devall, a Louisiana-based organisation specialising in bulk chemical and fertiliser transport throughout the Mississippi River and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway System. The retrofit is due to be complete in late 2023, and following successful trials more vessels in Southern Devall’s fleet will be retrofitted to run on ammonia fuel.