Avina Clean Hydrogen Inc., New York City, plans to break ground on a new 700,000 mt/y green ammonia facility on the Texas Gulf Coast in 2023. The company said it has signed an offtake agreement for 100% of the product from the first phase of production. Avina did not identify the customers, but told Green Markets it was with “blue-chip, international ammonia firms.”

The first phase of the plant – 100,000 mt/y – is expected to become operational in 2025. Avina said the company’s technology provider will be one of the leading ammonia firms, and the partner is expected to be announced soon. The company said financing to develop the plant is in place, and it is working with various banks to secure debt financing.

Avina said the facility will play an instrumental role in transitioning the US from being a net importer of ammonia to becoming a key exporter of green ammonia to international markets such as South America, Europe, and Asia.

“This is a significant milestone for our green ammonia facility that has been under development for more than 18 months now,” said Vishal Shah, Avina Founder and CEO, referring to the offtake agreement. “Once operational, we expect this facility to be one of the largest, state-of-the art renewable power enabled green ammonia production facilities in the US and one of the most cost competitive green ammonia facilities around the world. With abundant renewable energy resources and best-in-class maritime infrastructure, the Texas Gulf Coast region is an ideal location for this production facility.”

Avina said it plans to invest $1 billion in green ammonia and hydrogen plants by 2025 and has a pipeline of an additional 1.5GW of renewable energy assets that can be converted into green hydrogen projects under various stages of development.

“We are working on additional green hydrogen projects in California, Texas, and the Midwest,” an Avina spokesperson told Green Markets. “The offtake partners for these projects cover broad end markets, including existing gray hydrogen markets, as well as new markets in the mobility segment.”

Avina’s launch as a pure-play clean hydrogen platform was announced in October 2022 by the principals of Hydrogen Technology Ventures, New York City, which was established in 2019 to invest across the clean hydrogen value chain.