Woodside Petroleum and Fortescue Metals Group have announced separate agreements today with major Japanese companies to assess production of green ammonia in Tasmania.
Woodside Petroleum and Fortescue Metals Group have announced separate agreements today with major Japanese companies to assess production of green ammonia in Tasmania.
Fortescue, through its subsidiary Fortescue Future Industries, has signed a memorandum of understanding with IHI Engineering Australia and its parent company IHI Corporation.
Woodside has also partnered with IHI Corporation plus Marubeni Corporation.
Both agreements target the production and export of green ammonia from Bell Bay in northern Tasman.
The two projects are seeking to take advantage of the plentiful supply of renewable hydro power in Tasmania.
This would be used to produce green hydrogen initially, which would then be processed into green ammonia.
The green ammonia is a zero-emission fuel that can be used to decarbonise coal-fired power production, among other applications.
Woodside said its initial aim was to produce green ammonia at a small-scale hydrogen electrolysis plant.
The capacity of the proposed plant could eventually be scaled up to as much as 250 MW.
Woodside said the first step for the three partners was to deepen their understanding of Japanese and Asian ammonia markets, with technical and commercial evaluations underway.
Today’s announcement comes four months after Woodside signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tasmanian government and a term sheet with natural gas retailer Tas Gas for its proposed H2TAS project.
This project proposed the production of renewable hydrogen at Bell Bay and blending it into the Tasmanian gas network.
Woodside said it is reviewing the H2TAS concept and schedule after the project failed to qualify for funding from federal government agency ARENA.
Meanwhile, FFI said its project would assess the economic and technical feasibility of supplying green ammonia to Japan for blending into existing power generation.
FFI chief executive Julie Shuttleworth said the world’s transition to a clean energy future represents a major growth opportunity.
“Japan is a priority market for green ammonia exports,” Ms Shuttleworth said.
“By leveraging our value chain and market access as well as the skills and capability of our people to rapidly develop complex projects, FFI is well placed to meet the future demand of green ammonia.”
IHI President and CEO Hiroshi Ide said Australia, with an abundance of renewable energy, was a very promising location for large scale ammonia production..
“IHI will contribute to realizing a carbon-free society by merging our ammonia combustion and production technology together with green ammonia,” Mr. Ide said.
FFI is building an international portfolio of green energy projects, associated with green ammonia and renewable hydrogen production.
