The facility, once its construction and expansion are completed, will produce 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia per year.
By Alex Donaldson
A green hydrogen gas molecule. Credit: Corona Borealis Studio vis Shutterstock.
India’s ACME Group, a globally operating sustainable and renewable energy company, has announced it has secured Rs4,000 crore ($488.9m) of debt facility for its Oman green hydrogen and ammonia project.
The money, provided by Indian green infrastructure finance company REC, will be used to initiate the facility’s first stage. This first phase will be able to produce 100,000 tonnes per year of green ammonia, with a further expansion increasing this to 1.2 million.
Alongside this expansion will be 3.5GW of electrolytic capacity for green hydrogen production. The green power for all these systems will come from a 5.5GW peak photovoltaic solar plant.
The International Energy Agency has predicted that by 2030, Oman could become the world’s sixth-largest hydrogen eporter. The country has set targets to produce as much as 3.75 million tonnes per year by 2040. Both hydrogen and ammonia production are becoming increasingly important amid the global energy transition. Recently, investments have been made and tests conducted for the use of green ammonia as a maritime shipping fuel.
On the subject of the funding, Shashi Shekhar, ACME Group vice-chairman stated: “The securing of debt for the green hydrogen and ammonia project in Oman is an important milestone. We will start the construction activities soon and build one of the most advanced technologies and create a state-of-the-art facility.”
The prospective facility will be constructed in Duqm, Oman, at the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for the country’s rapidly expanding collection of hydrogen and ammonia projects. This SEZ will host the world’s largest prospective green hydrogen facility. The $6.7bn contract for the green hydrogen facility was awarded in June to a global consortium led South Korea’ POSCO.
Alongside the Oman debt announcement, ACME announced it has secured of Rs21,000 crore of debt facility, also from REC, for several green energy projects in India. These projects include the establishment of 380MW of round-the-clock renewable power, a 600-megawatt-hour pumped hydropower project, and the completion of the initial phases of the Odisha and Tamil Nadu green ammonia projects.