Hyphen Hydrogen signs further offtake MOUs for Namibia green ammonia project

Hyphen Hydrogen Energy has signed offtake memorandums of understanding with South Korean hydrogen producer Approtium and another major chemical company for its 1 million mt/year green ammonia plant in development in Namibia, the company said Feb. 2.

Approtium is to take 250,000 mt/year, with the undisclosed chemical company signing an agreement for 500,000 mt/year of ammonia, produced from renewables-powered hydrogen.

In December, Hyphen signed a similar agreement with RWE Supply and Trading for up to 300,000 mt/year of green ammonia from 2027, bringing the total volume of offtake agreements to over 1 million mt/year.

Green ammonia imports to Europe could be cheaper than locally-produced decarbonized ammonia production, according to price assessments from Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Platts assessed ammonia produced from renewable power sources delivered to Northwest Europe from the east coast of Canada at $741.70/mt Jan. 30, compared with conventional production at $800.00/mt CFR Northwest Europe on Feb. 1, and blue ammonia at $850.90/mt.

"Although Hyphen's primary focus is the supply of hydrogen into Europe, and Germany in particular, South Korea is expected to emerge as a key market in the green hydrogen sector, in which Approtium will be a major player," Hyphen CEO Marco Raffinetti said in the statement.

RWE is planning an ammonia terminal in Brunsbuettel, Germany, to start operations by 2026.

Hyphen aims to produce 1 million mt/year of ammonia by 2027 from green hydrogen supplied by 3 GW of electrolysis and backed by 5-6 GW of renewables, rising to 2 million mt/year by 2029 for export to international markets, as well as supplying Namibia and southern Africa.

The EU is targeting 10 million mt/year of renewable hydrogen imports and its derivatives such as ammonia by 2030, in addition to 10 million mt/year of domestic production.

Germany has a renewable hydrogen production target of 10 GW by 2030.

The deadline for a first green ammonia tender under Germany's H2Global import scheme comes on Feb. 7, with first deliveries from 2024.