Scatec ASA, Oslo, a major renewable power producer, on March 10 announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the General Authority for Suez Canal Economic Zone, Sovereign Fund of Egypt, Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) to jointly develop a green ammonia facility with annual production capacity of 1 million mt and potential to expand to 3 million mt, the company said in a statement.
The facility is to be located in the SCZONE in the Ain Sokhna Industrial Zone and to be powered by renewable energy plants to be built in close proximity on an area of land allocated by NREA. Long term offtake agreements are to be secured to enable non-recourse project financing for the project. The ammonia will mainly be exported to European and Asian markets.
The Egyptian Cabinet put the value of the investment at $5 billion, with production expected to begin in 2025.
On March 7, Scatec announced that it had signed an agreement with the Indian clean tech company ACME Group to establish a 50/50 joint venture to design, develop, build, own, and operate a large-scale green ammonia facility in Oman.
The first phase of the facility is expected to produce 100,000 mt/y of green ammonia, with about 300 MW of electrolyzer capacity and powered by 500 MW of solar. The facility will be located in the Duqm Special Economic Zone of Oman. Once fully developed, the facility is expected to produce up to 1.2 million mt/y.
ACME has developed the Oman project over the last 18 months and has already set up the world’s first single-location integrated solar power to green ammonia facility at Bikaner Rajasthan.
The partners said they are in advanced discussions with reputable offtakers for 20–25-year contracts that will lay the foundation for financing of the project. The partners expect to fund the facility through equity and project finance debt.
The overall schedule for the project is under development, but the partners share the ambition for this facility to be one of the first commercial large-scale green ammonia facilities in operation globally.