Indian group in $ 3.5 billion bid to harness Oman’s huge wind and solar fleet for green ammonia
Indian renewable energy developer ACME has unveiled a $ 3.5 billion plan to build one of the world’s largest green ammonia projects in Oman.
ACME plans to harness 3 GW of solar power and 500 MW of wind power for the integrated hydrogen and ammonia project in the Duqm Port Special Economic Zone in the Persian Gulf.
Green ammonia produced from renewable H2 is considered one of the most promising areas for the emerging power-to-X sector, thanks to its efficiency as a hydrogen carrier and its potential to decarbonise areas such as fertilizer production and shipping fuels.
ACME – which is currently building an integrated 5 MW solar-powered hydrogen and ammonia pilot plant in India – hopes that a first phase of the Oman plant could be operational by the end of the year. next after signing a land agreement with the government there. .
The large-scale plant would produce around 900,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year, exporting to demand centers in Europe and Asia.
Oman has become a favored prospect for developers who foresee massive future production of hydrogen and other green fuels linked to renewable energies.
German electrician Uniper and Belgian entrepreneur DEME are part of plans to install up to 500 MW of electrolyser capacity for the production of green fuels, also at Duqm.
A consortium of Oman public energy company OQ, developer InterContinental Energy and Kuwaiti company Enertech want to harness 25 GW of wind and solar power for green hydrogen, in what to be one of the largest renewable energy projects in the world.
Germany and other EU states have said they plan to import vast volumes of green hydrogen or its derivatives, given the lack of physical space in Europe to install the massive amounts of renewable energy needed to achieve the bloc’s net zero ambition by 2050.
However, some analysts have raised questions about the viability of these massive projects, especially the underlying cost assumptions of the electrolyzers needed for the process and whether wind and solar can provide the ultra-cheap energy needed for them. operate efficiently.
ACME announcement comes shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wanted India itself to become a huge hub production and consumption of green hydrogen.
