NextEra Energy Resources LLC, Juno Beach, Fla., is evaluating a site near Spiritwood, N.D., for a large green nitrogen plant, the company told The Jamestown Sun. The North Dakota State Legislature has approved a $125 million fertilizer development incentive program to aid new fertilizer projects in the state that use hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water. The program includes a loan with possible forgiveness.
Cost estimates for the project are $3-$3.5 billion, according to N.D. State Representative Mike Brandenburg (R), who said the project would take at least three years to build. He said the project would use electrolysis to produce anhydrous ammonia and use carbon dioxide from other North Dakota companies in order to make urea. Approximate capacities were not given, and NextEra had not returned inquiries at press time.
High fertilizer prices and not enough local production have been the traditional arguments for another N.D. nitrogen plant. Brandenburg added another, estimating that some 25% of the fertilizer imports into the state are from Russia, according to the Sun.
This isn’t the first time a nitrogen plant has been considered for Spiritwood. CHS Inc. had planned to build its own $3 billion nitrogen plant in Spiritwood, however, instead it opted to axe the project in favor of buying an equity stake in CF Nitrogen for $2.8 billion in 2016 (GM Feb. 5, 2016; Aug. 17, 2015) that gave it a urea and UAN supply agreement and semi-annual profit distributions. CHS wound up taking an impairment charge on the funds expended on the Spiritwood project (GM Aug. 31, 2015), estimating at one point that it had incurred costs of approximately $75-$85 million in connection with the planning and initial construction activities relating to the facility.
Another long-proposed North Dakota nitrogen plant project – Northern Plains Nitrogen, Grand Forks – resurfaced early last year (GM Jan. 14, 2022) with plans for a world-scale “shovel ready” blue ammonia plant. No news has been posted on their website since that time.
This is not NextEra’s first foray into the fertilizer industry. It recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CF Industries Holdings Inc. for a joint venture to develop a zero-carbon-intensity hydrogen project at CF’s Verdigris Complex in Oklahoma (GM April 28, 2023).
NextEra has also invested in clean technology developer and junior ammonia producer Monolith, Lincoln, Neb., which has plans to produce 275,000 mt/y of ammonia in Nebraska (GM July 15, 2022). Monolith said it can cleanly produce essential materials such as ammonia using a proprietary methane pyrolysis.
According to its website, NextEra is one of the largest wholesale generators of electric power in the US, with approximately 27,400 megawatts of total net generating capacity, primarily in 40 states and Canada. It said it is the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage, and is driving the development of the green hydrogen economy. It said the business operates clean, emissions-free nuclear power generation facilities in New Hampshire and Wisconsin as part of the NextEra Energy nuclear fleet. The company added that it offers a wide range of clean energy solutions to help businesses and customers across the country meet their emissions reduction goals.