Renewable energy: Egypt continues drive with green ammonia deal

In an effort to further renewable energy development SCzone, Egypt’s sovereign wealth fund, has signed a deal to implement the production of 300,000 tons of green ammonia.

Green ammonia production

SCzone, Egypt’s sovereign wealth fund, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, and the Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding MoU to produce up to 300,000 tons of green ammonia with a consortium that includes French oil and gas company TotalEnergies and Egypt’s own Enara Capital, the cabinet announced in a statement.

The MoU outlines a project to initially produce 300,000 tons of green ammonia annually before scaling up to reach 1.5 million tons annually, according to the statement.

Ammonia is a gas commonly used in the production of agricultural fertilizers, it can also be burnt or used in a fuel cell to produce electricity. Green ammonia is made by using renewable energy sources to produce electricity that is used to extract hydrogen from water, while nitrogen is separated from air using an air separation unit. The resulting products can then be used to create fertilizer, or a fuel source.

Embracing renewable energy

The move comes as part of Egypt’s attempts to embrace green or renewable energy projects. Last month, the country announced a similar agreement with the UAE’s AMEA Power for the production of 390,000 tons of green ammonia. Also in April, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) signed an agreement to develop green hydrogen production plants in the SCZone and along the Mediterranean coastline.

In March, Egypt signed an MoU with Norway’s Scatec to create the first green ammonia plant in the SCZone. The project was valued at USD 5 billion and will produce up to 3,000,000 tons of green ammonia. Production is expected to start in 2025.

Egypt will host the COP27 climate conference in November and the government has indicated that it views assisting African nations in making the transition to clean energy as a priority.

AMEA Power and Masdar have recently announced plans to invest in renewable energy production in Morocco and the DRC.