Energy infrastructure company Tallgrass, Houston, and international energy company Equinor, Stavanger, Norway, on Sept. 27 announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on efforts to pursue opportunities for the development of large-scale, low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia projects in North America.
They will assess the production and market potential for hydrogen and ammonia, as well as associated distribution infrastructure, to help facilitate broad decarbonization.
Under the MOU, the partners have agreed to initial co-development activities, including the joint funding of a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study. The study will be focused on large-scale hydrogen production, incorporating the capture of a minimum of 95% of the CO2 for permanent sequestration, coupled with ammonia for efficient transportation and storage. As part of the study, Tallgrass and Equinor are evaluating multiple regional energy centers across the US.
“The joint initiative with Tallgrass to launch plans for a large-scale clean ammonia value chain in the US is fully in line with the roadmap of making Equinor carbon neutral by 2050,” said Grete Tveit, Equinor Vice President for Low Carbon Solutions. “It builds on complementary experience in both companies and the common aspiration to take a leading role in the global energy transition.”
“The magnitude of annual emissions reductions from our potential regional energy centers equates to eliminating the CO2 emissions of over one-third of the total automobiles on the road in states as populous as Colorado, Arizona, and Massachusetts,” said Dustin Bashford, Tallgrass’ Segment President. “It is this type of meaningful decarbonization that we are committed to rapidly advancing.”