Australia’s Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) has signed a deal with Japan’s IHI Corporation and its Australian arm IHI Engineering Australia to study the potential of establishing green ammonia supply chains between Australia and Japan.
The companies will assess the feasibility of supplying green ammonia which is produced from renewable energy sources with no emissions in Bell Bay, Tasmania, and transporting it to Japan to be blended into existing power generation, a statement said.
It is part of FFI’s feasibility and development programme for the 250 megawatts (MW) green hydrogen and ammonia Bell Bay project which was announced in November 2020, reported as having “the capacity to be one of the world’s largest green hydrogen plants”. It is part of Fortescue's plans to be carbon neutral by 2040.
Karah Howard of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law, said: “The study between Fortescue Future Industries and IHI Engineering Australia connects the green hydrogen generating capacity of Tasmania, Australia with Japan’s burgeoning market demand for green ammonia exports, which has been bolstered by prime minister Yoshihide Suga’s pledge to be carbon neutral by 2050. The potential for both countries cannot be understated.”
This is IHI's second partnership in Australia involving green hydrogen or ammonia. It formed a joint venture with Queensland state-owned utility CS Energy to assess the feasibility to build a hydrogen demonstration plant fuelled by solar power beside its 750MW Kogan Creek coal-fired power plant in February.
FFI is the wholly owned subsidiary of iron ore miner Fortescue.
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