Greenko plans to supply green ammonia to Uniper
3 min read . Updated: 07 Feb 2023, 03:39 PM IST
PremiumThe green ammonia will be supplied from 1 million tonne per annum (mtpa) production facility in Kakinada that is being set up by Greenko Group’s arm
New Delhi: Greenko Group, backed by GIC Holdings, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Japan’s ORIX Corp, plans to supply green ammonia to Germany’s biggest gas trader Uniper, in what could be the first export deal of the emission-free fuel out of India.
The green ammonia will be supplied from 1 million tonne per annum (mtpa) production facility in Kakinada that is being set up by Greenko Group’s Greenko ZeroC Private Limited.
The two firms on Tuesday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Heads of Terms agreement for exclusive negotiations to supply 250,000 tn per annum of green ammonia to the German major.
This comes in the backdrop of uncertainty over Russian energy supplies to Europe in the wake of Ukraine war. With the US led global coalition comprising of the G7 and the European Union (EU) imposing a price cap on Russian oil and gas, Germany is looking at diversifying its energy sourcing to cater to their own domestic demand.
“Uniper and Greenko ZeroC Private Limited, the green molecule production arm of the Greenko Group, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Heads of Terms for Uniper to enter into exclusive negotiations for the offtake of green ammonia from Phase 1 of Greenko ZeroC’s ammonia production facility in Kakinada," the statement said.
“Aside from Green Ammonia, Uniper and Greenko also intend to collaborate on the deployment of similar flexible renewable electricity to other Hydrogen products such as E-Methanol and Sustainable Aviation Fuels," the statement added.
Green hydrogen is generated by breaking down water in an electrolyzer. The hydrogen produced can be combined with nitrogen to make green ammonia, to be used to store energy and in fertilizer manufacturing.
Greenko also recently partnered with Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp. to jointly explore setting up a 250,000 tonnes green ammonia production facility. Also, Greenko Group and Belgium’s John Cockerill are setting up a 2 GW electrolyzer factory in India, one of the world’s largest, through their joint venture, that will require an investment of $500 million.
“Under the MoU, Greenko and Uniper intend to negotiate a first of its kind innovative pricing, supply and tenure structure for a supply and purchase agreement for 250,000 tonnes per annum of Green Ammonia (GASPA) based on the Heads of Terms. Greenko’s Kakinada project is a multi-phase green ammonia production and export facility adding up to 1 MTPA of Green Ammonia production capacity by 2027," the statement added.
Green hydrogen is an important part of India’s energy transition, with the government recently launching the ₹19,700 crore National Green Hydrogen Mission. India has set a target to produce 5 million tonnes (mt) of green hydrogen by 2030 and is encouraging green hydrogen exports to Japan, South Korea, and Europe.
“Today, Indian companies can supply the most competitive green hydrogen/green ammonia due to availability. The availability of the lowest cost for solar power combined with engineering prowess makes India an ideal place for a green hydrogen production hub," India’s petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri said at the 9th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable.
Greenko has India’s largest operational clean energy portfolio of 7.5 gigawatt (GW) and is building 50-gigawatt hour (GWh) of storage capacity on pumped storage technology (PSP), as part of its plan to set up an energy storage cloud platform of 100 GWh. National Investment and Infrastructure Fund’s (NIIF) Ayana Renewable Power Pvt. Ltd. has also partnered with Greenko Group to store 6-GWh of power in hydro pump storage plants that Greenko is building at Pinnapuram in Andhra Pradesh.
“We are partnering with a world-class technology partner in John Cockerill and will jointly develop large-scale green molecule projects in India. We are extremely delighted to partner with Uniper through this offtake agreement for our project which will eventually displace LNG imports and strengthen India’s green molecule ambitions as part of a wider renewable energy program that will see India run the world’s largest energy transition program," said Anil Chalmalasetty, chief executive officer and founder and managing director of Greenko said in the statement.
