US-based Talus Renewables has deployed its modular, containerised ammonia & fertiliser production system in Kenya. Solar power and water will be utilised to produce one tonne per day of fertilizer for the Kenya Nut Corporation, with multiple, larger plants already planned. The system will also be deployed in the US for the Iowa-based Landus Cooperative.
The US Department of Energy has selected seven hydrogen hub applications to proceed to a funding negotiation stage, with $7 billion to be split between them. Fertiliser, power generation, industrial decarbonisation and heavy vehicle transport are all target markets for the new hubs, with locations to range from the Gulf Coast, Appalachia, the Midwest to the Californian coast.
KBR will integrate SolydEra’s solid oxide electrolysis technology into its proprietary K-GreeN® ammonia synthesis process thanks to a new MoU. K-GreeN® is the technology of choice for several significant ammonia mega-projects, including Avina Clean Hydrogen (Texas), and ACME Group (Oman).
OCI will offtake electrolytic hydrogen feedstock from New Fortress Energy’s ZeroParks facility from 2025, allowing for the production of 80,000 tonnes per year of renewable ammonia at its Beaumont plant in Texas. This “over-the-fence” feedstock approach will also be employed in the development of a new multi-million tonne per year, greenfield ammonia plant in Beaumont, with Linde to own & operate an adjacent, CCS-based hydrogen production plant.
“Green fertilizer” produced at Fertiberia’s Puertollano plant has been successfully used on barley & potato crops in Spain, paving the way for future supply chains. Both Heineken and PepsiCo are aiming to reduce agricultural emissions and intend to scale-up the use of green fertilizer, and Fertiberia is set to begin producing low-carbon fertilizer at its other Spanish production centres.
IHI Corporation will join the North Queensland Clean Energy Project, a consortium developing a GW-scale electrolysis, ammonia production and export facility in north Queensland, Australia. Project partners include Idemitsu Australia, CS Energy and Energy Estate.
Having witnessed the extreme climate events this northern hemisphere summer, it was heartening to see momentum for new renewable projects on display in Sao Paulo, where I spoke at a recent conference. In the Netherlands, an important decision on the Porthos project will - hopefully - create space for infrastructure development.
Topsoe will supply its ammonia loop technology to the million tonne per year renewable ammonia project in Newfoundland. Crown lands application approval means that project developers World Energy GH2 have now secured full land capacity for both initial and potential expansion phases for the project.
German energy company EnBW has acquired a 10% equity stake in the SkiGA project, as well as securing long-term offtake rights to the renewable ammonia produced at the Norwegian facility. SkiGA will be completed in 2026, producing 100,000 tonnes per year of renewable ammonia.
The pair will jointly develop a 1.3 million tonnes per year renewable ammonia production plant in the Gopalpur Industrial Park in Odisha, northeast India. From the adjacent port, ammonia will be shipped domestically, and exported to key global markets.