Germany technical services company TÜV Rheinland has issued the first ever green hydrogen and green ammonia certificate to the giant planned Greenfield Project in Oman.
The first phase of that development — with 300MW of electrolysers powered by 500MW of solar — was only announced in March by its joint developers, Norwegian renewables player Scatec and Indian sustainable energy company ACME Group.
The facility, in the emerging Duqm special economic zone, is due to produce 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia per year (by combining green hydrogen with nitrogen from the air) upon completion of the first phase, and can “potentially be further expanded in the future”.
ACME announced in August last year that the project would use around 2GW of electrolysers, powered by 3GW of PV and 500MW of wind.
“Green Hydrogen & Chemicals SPC, a 50:50 joint venture subsidiary of ACME Group & Scatec ASA, has been assessed and fulfilled all criteria for the entire Greenfield Project based on the defined production methods, transport methods and the applications of hydrogen,” said TÜV Rheinland.
“TÜV Rheinland's certification for carbon-neutral hydrogen provides an evidence of supplying hydrogen to the recipient in a climate-neutral manner.”
ACME CEO Rajat Seksaria added: “This certificate will enhance our capability to cater to international markets across Europe, America and Asia region for the supply of Green Ammonia. We have already started work on the Oman plant and are on track to commission the world's first large-scale green ammonia project.”
It is not clear when the Greenfield project would be completed, with Scatec stating in March that: “The partners are in advanced discussions with reputable off-takers for 20-25-year contracts, which will lay the foundation for financing of the project.
“The overall schedule for the project is under development, but the partners share the ambition for this facility to be one of the first commercial large-scale green ammonia facilities in operation globally.”
Scatec and ACME expect to fund the development through equity and project finance debt.
German utility Uniper, together with Omani oil company OQ and Belgian contractor DEME, also plan to build the 500MW Hyport Duqm green hydrogen/ammonia project in the same special economic zone.
