Brazil’s Port of Açu has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), a unit of iron ore major Fortescue, Perth, Australia, to develop hydrogen-based green industrial projects in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The MOU will allow the parties to conduct development studies into the feasibility of installing a green hydrogen plant at Port of Açu, Latin America’s largest privately owned deep-water port-industrial complex.
Subject to the outcome of the studies, the project envisages construction of a 300-MW-capacity green hydrogen plant at Port of Açu, with potential to produce 250,000 mt/y of green ammonia.
The availability of green hydrogen and renewable power is expected to drive further sustainable industrialization of the port, including production of green steel, fertilizers, chemicals, fuels, and other sustainably manufactured industrial products.
The MOU also lays the groundwork for onsite solar power development projects, as well as offshore wind development projects in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo, said Fortescue.
Port of Açu CEO Jose Firmo said the port is sailing steadfastly ahead toward the sustainable economy of the future. “This will be the first green hydrogen plant in the country and will place FFI and Açu at the forefront of clean energy production and the green industrialization of Brazil,” he said.
Port of Açu is managed by Porto do Açu Operacoes, a partnership between Prumo Logistica and the Port of Antwerp. Prumo is the multi-business economic group responsible for the strategic development of the port. Prumo is controlled by EIG, Washington, D.C.-based fund focused on energy and infrastructure, and by Mubadala Investment Co., Abu Dhabi, which invests in a variety of segments.