Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to invest in Australian green ammonia projects

LONDON (ICIS)–Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) on Thursday announced it will make an undisclosed capital investment in H2U Investments to explore opportunities in green hydrogen and green ammonia projects in South Australia.

The Tokyo-headquartered group is seeking to take advantage of Australia’s wind and solar resources, with the deal coming 13 months after it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of New South Wales (NSW).

The H2U Group includes The Hydrogen Utility (H2U), an Australian developer of green hydrogen and green ammonia projects using power derived from renewable energy sources.

The agreement also includes MHI’s support for H2U’s projects and business development initiatives, including supporting the front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for H2U’s Eyre Peninsula GatewayTM project in South Australia.

MHI plans to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia to help decarbonise mineral processing and agricultural industries and lay the foundation to export green hydrogen and green ammonia to Japan and other countries.

“The first project of the initiatives, Eyre Peninsula GatewayTM in southwest South Australia, is planned to commence commercial production of green hydrogen and ammonia towards the end of 2022,” MHI said in a statement.

“Green hydrogen produced by water electrolysis using power derived from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, will be used in the manufacture of green ammonia, and to demonstrate hydrogen-powered gas turbine generators.

“MHI will participate in the project by contributing engineering resources to the FEED study phase, and also by providing key plant equipment, including hydrogen gas turbines and hydrogen compressors.

“As part of the project, MHI and H2U will investigate synergies with nearby industrial operations, including shared infrastructure for the further reduction of total CO2 emissions in the region.”

MHI’s MoU with the NSW government aims to propose solutions for energy management and other technologies in conjunction with a comprehensive development plan for the Western Sydney region.

Next week, MHI company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering (MHIENG) will launch a new “Decarbonisation Business Department”.

Due to debut on 1 December, the business unit will target “further strengthening of MHIENG’s world-leading business in carbon capture from gas emissions and further acceleration of new initiatives in the area of energy transition”.