02 Feb 2023 | 10:45 UTC

Hyphen Hydrogen signs further offtake MOUs for Namibia green ammonia project

Highlights

Offtake from hydrogen, chemical companies

Total offtake agreements over 1 million mt/year

Targeting export opportunities to Europe, Asia

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Hyphen Hydrogen Energy has signed offtake memorandums of understanding with South Korean hydrogen producer Approtium and another major chemical company for its 1 million mt/year green ammonia plant in development in Namibia, the company said Feb. 2.

Approtium is to take 250,000 mt/year, with the undisclosed chemical company signing an agreement for 500,000 mt/year of ammonia, produced from renewables-powered hydrogen.

In December, Hyphen signed a similar agreement with RWE Supply and Trading for up to 300,000 mt/year of green ammonia from 2027, bringing the total volume of offtake agreements to over 1 million mt/year.

Green ammonia imports to Europe could be cheaper than locally-produced decarbonized ammonia production, according to price assessments from Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Platts assessed ammonia produced from renewable power sources delivered to Northwest Europe from the east coast of Canada at $741.70/mt Jan. 30, compared with conventional production at $800.00/mt CFR Northwest Europe on Feb. 1, and blue ammonia at $850.90/mt.

"Although Hyphen's primary focus is the supply of hydrogen into Europe, and Germany in particular, South Korea is expected to emerge as a key market in the green hydrogen sector, in which Approtium will be a major player," Hyphen CEO Marco Raffinetti said in the statement.

RWE is planning an ammonia terminal in Brunsbuettel, Germany, to start operations by 2026.

Hyphen aims to produce 1 million mt/year of ammonia by 2027 from green hydrogen supplied by 3 GW of electrolysis and backed by 5-6 GW of renewables, rising to 2 million mt/year by 2029 for export to international markets, as well as supplying Namibia and southern Africa.

The EU is targeting 10 million mt/year of renewable hydrogen imports and its derivatives such as ammonia by 2030, in addition to 10 million mt/year of domestic production.

Germany has a renewable hydrogen production target of 10 GW by 2030.

The deadline for a first green ammonia tender under Germany's H2Global import scheme comes on Feb. 7, with first deliveries from 2024.


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