Lee Nichols, VP Content/Editor-in-Chief

AFRICA

Namibia may receive €10 B for green H₂ production 

The Germany government has announced that it may provide Namibia €10 B to build a new green H₂ production complex. This infusion of capital will help develop Hyphen Hydrogen Energy’s complex. The project in the port town of Luederitz consists of a solar and wind farm that will provide feedstock to produce green H₂. The H₂ and electricity not used for domestic consumption will be converted into green ammonia and shipped to Germany—RWE AG signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy to offtake 300,000 tpy of green ammonia.

ASIA-PACIFIC

Tasmania to be site of a large-scale green methanol project

Iberdola and ABEL Energy are collaborating on the construction of a $1.13-B green H₂ and methanol plant in northern Tasmania. The Bell Bay Powerfuels Project will be built in two phases. Phase 1 includes the installation of a 100-MW electrolyzer to produce green H₂, which will be used to produce 200,000 tpy of green methanol. Phase 1 activities are scheduled to be completed in 2025. The second phase will increase production capacity by an additional 100,000 tpy. The green methanol produced will be used for the marine industry as a shipping fuel.

Infinite Green Energy selects Technip Energies for H₂ plant study 

Infinite Green Energy has selected Technip Energies to perform a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a new green 10-MW H₂ production plant in Western Australia. The facility will be powered by the Northam Solar Farm. 

Once completed, Infinite Green Energy’s plant will produce more than 4 tpd of green H₂, which will be used to decarbonize the region’s mobility sector.

WESTERN EUROPE  

Ørsted takes FID on FlagshipONE 

Ørsted has greenlighted the 50,000-tpy FlagshipONE project. The facility—located in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden—will produce e-methanol for the marine industry. According to Topsoe, the project’s technology provider, FlagshipONE will capture biogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) and combine it with H₂ made from renewable electricity and water to produce renewable methanol (i.e., e-methanol). Operations are scheduled to begin in 2025.  

This project will complement Ørsted’s two additional e-methanol projects: the 300,000-tpy Project Star on the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Green Fuels for Denmark project in Coopenhagen.

Lhyfe and Schaeffler collaborate to deliver green H₂ to Bavaria region 

Green H₂ producer Lhyfe and Schaeffler, a global supplier to the automotive and industrial sectors, plan to build a new green H₂ production plant in Bavaria, Germany. The JV plans to install a 15-MW electrolyzer in Schaeffler’s factory in Herzogenaurach. The electrolyzer will produce approximately 3.7 tpd of green H₂, which will be used in the region at H₂ filling stations and within municipalities. According to Lhyfe, the waste heat generated by electrolysis will be fed into the industrial processes within the Schaeffler plant.

Consortium to study large-scale ammonia imports in Rotterdam 

The Port of Rotterdam Authority and nearly 20 companies (e.g., Shell, ExxonMobil, bp) are conducting a pre-feasibility study to significantly scale up H₂ imports at the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The study includes the construction of a large-scale ammonia cracker that will convert imported ammonia into H₂. If built, the ammonia cracker will enable the port to import up to 1 MMtpy of H₂. The imported H₂ will be used to decarbonize industrial and mobility sectors in the region.

France, Portugal and Spain to collaborate on H₂Med pipeline 

France, Portugal and Spain plan to develop a new, nearly $3-B H₂ transportation pipeline to help decarbonize their respective countries’ economies. The 2-MMtpy H₂Med pipeline will be built in two sections: a nearly $370-MM overland section and a $2.6-B subsea section. The overland section will run from Celerico de Beira, Portugal to Zamora, Spain, with the subsea section connecting Barcelona, Spain to Marseille, France via the Balearic Sea.  

Construction on the H₂Med pipeline will commence in 2026. Once completed, the route will make up a significant section of the European H₂ Backbone’s (EHB’s) southwest corridor. The EHB is an ambitious initiative of 23 European countries to develop a massive H₂ pipeline system throughout the European Union.

Cepsa to invest more than €5 B in Andalusia 

To help decarbonize its economy, Spain’s Cepsa plans to invest more than €5 B to develop the Andalusian Green H₂ Valley project. The capital-intensive project—part of Cepsa’s 2030 Positive Motion strategy—consists of more than €3 B to build two green H₂ production plants, each with a capacity of 1 GW. One plant will be in Huelva near Cepsa’s La Rábida Energy Park, with the other at the San Roque Energy Park in Cádiz. Operations at the Huelva and Cádiz plants will commence in 2026 and 2027, respectively. In total, these two plants will enable Cepsa to produce approximately 300,000 tpy of green H₂.  

To provide electricity/feedstock to the Huelva and Cádiz plants, Cepsa will invest an additional €2 B to build a wind and solar farm. This investment is expected to produce up to 3 GW of renewable power.  

Once completed, the Andalusia Green H₂ Valley project will provide green H₂ to industrial and marine sectors—the produced H₂ will be converted into green ammonia and green methanol for use in marine shipping.

MIDDLE EAST  

Oman sets sights on 1 MMtpy of green H₂ production by 2030 

Oman is trying to attract up to $20 B in foreign investments to fully develop its green H₂ value chain. The country’s goal is to produce up to 1 MMtpy of green H₂ by 2030. This buildup will be realized by several investment packages—Phase 1 has already been launched, with Phase 2 expected to begin early this year. Most green H₂ investments in Phase 1 will be in the governorates of Al Wusta and Dhofar.

U.S.

CF Industries and Mitsui to develop a blue ammonia plant in Louisiana 

CF Industries and Mitsui are collaborating on the development of a capital-intensive blue ammonia project in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. The JV awarded a FEED contract to thyssenkrupp Uhde in mid-December 2022. The plant will not only produce blue ammonia but will also include carbon capture and sequestration technologies to mitigate carbon emissions. The JV plans to take FID on the project in 2H 2023. If built, operations are expected to begin in late 2027. 

Air Products-AES to build $4-B green H₂ facility  

Air Products and AES are collaborating on a $4-B green H₂ production facility in Wilbarger County, Texas. The facility includes 1.4 GW of wind and solar power generation, along with electrolyzer capacity to produce more than 200 metric tpd of green H₂. Once operational in 2027, the facility will help decarbonize mobility and industrial sectors.  

OCI breaks ground on nearly $1-B blue ammonia facility 

In December, OCI broke ground on a more than 1-MMtpy blue ammonia facility in Texas. The nearly $1-B project is adjacent to the company’s 1.4-MMtpy methanol-ammonia facility in Beaumont. The plant will use processing technology from KBR, with engineering and procurement being completed by Maire Tecnimont. Once operational in 2025, the facility will also be able to capture and sequester more than 95% of its carbon emissions.