European economic powerhouse Germany has said it hopes to import green ammonia from Saudi Arabia at a terminal to be opened in 2026, according to a report in the UAE-based The National.
Ammonia can be used to make hydrogen, a clean fuel type if generated in a green way.
A first German import terminal devoted to hydrogen and related products is to be built in Hamburg by US company Air Products and Germany’s Mabanaft, they announced on Thursday.
Air Products, along with Neom and ACWA Power, entered into a deal in July 2020 to produce ammonia at Neom for export. The three companies are betting big that Europe would be one of the largest importers of green ammonia. The three industrial heavyweights created the Neom Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC), which brings together “three market innovators in the fields of hydrogen, energy, renewables, and global networks with exemplary track records of more than 80 years of combined experience” into a “equal joint-venture developed by ACWA Power – renewable energy experts; Air Products – the world’s largest hydrogen producer; and the pioneering NEOM sustainable living initiative.”
NEOM’s NGHC announced yesterday that it had inked facility agreements with local, regional, and international banks and Saudi Arabia’s SIDF to finance the construction of the plant.
NGHC’s mega-plant will “integrate up to 4GW of solar and wind energy to produce up to 1.2 million tonnes of green-ammonia translating to up to 600 tonnes per day of carbon-free hydrogen. Once the plant at NEOM is operational by 2026, 100% of the green hydrogen produced will be available for global export, in the form of ammonia, through an exclusive long-term agreement with Air Products,” the company said yesterday in a press release available on its website.
According to the report in The National, the German terminal “is planned to go into operation in 2026 and be available to import green ammonia from Saudi Arabia”, Germany’s Economy Ministry said. The city of Hamburg received a first test shipment of ammonia from the UAE at a ceremony last month.
It is also hoped that liquefied natural gas terminals being built on the German coast will one day be converted to receive hydrogen, The National reports.
