Norwegian Green Ammonia Plant Will Contribute to Decarbonizing Arctic

green ammonia production in the Arctic — Aker Clean Hydrogen, Yara and Statkraft have also agreed to co-develop a green ammonia facility at Herøya, Norway

Following the news that the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee approved a ban on the transportation and use of heavy fuel oil in Arctic waters, joint venture partners Aker Clean Hydrogen and Varanger Kraft announced that they are exploring doubling the production capacities for their planned green ammonia and hydrogen production project. The companies are working on plans to build one of the first commercial production plants for green ammonia with production potentially starting in Northern Norway before the end of 2024.

The planned plant will be located north of the Arctic Circle in Berlevåg municipality. It would be well situated to become one of the first providers of alternate fuels to aid in the decarbonization of the arctic and according to Rolf Laupstad, mayor of Berlevåg, will help the area to become a center for green development.

The companies’ newly formed joint venture, Green Ammonia Berlevåg AS, reports that the project has successfully passed the feasibility study and concept phase. The project design is based on a 100 MW hydrogen plant, but the pre-facilitation of a potential future expansion to 200 MW is also being considered.

The green ammonia will be produced from water and renewable power supplied from Varanger Kraft's nearby wind farm on Raggovidda. The goal is to replace traditional fossil fuels for ships, rigs, and off-grid power stations.

“Our findings confirm that the Green Ammonia Berlevåg project is well-placed to realize green ammonia production at scale to decarbonize arctic shipping and off-grid power plants,” says Knut Nyborg, Chief Executive Officer of Aker Clean Hydrogen. “The project continues to move forward towards becoming one of the first production plants of green ammonia.”

They also announced that the Norwegian authorities recently extended the license deadline for Varanger Kraft to expand the wind power production capacity on the Raggovidda wind farm until 2026.

“This is great news for us and our partners. The extended license deadline gives Varanger Kraft the opportunity to expand the capacity of Raggovidda to 200 MW with an additional 103 MW of wind power which in turn will result in a higher supply of renewable power to the planned production plant in Berlevåg,” Christian Bue, CEO of Green Ammonia Berlevåg and Varanger Kraft Hydrogen.

A 2.5 MW hydrogen pilot facility is already in operation with power from the wind farm.

“We have just produced the first kilogram of clean hydrogen in Berlevåg, and we already see promising synergies,” said Bue.