Norwegian Startup Pairs With L&T to Design "FPSO" for Green Ammonia

The Norwegian energy startup H2Carrier has signed an agreement with Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen &Toubro to develop floating power-to-X plants that will turn renewable power into green ammonia. 

L&T will be H2Carrier's partner for engineering, procurement and construction of the plant process and utility modules. H2C plans to build the hull at an Asian yard, and L&T - leveraging its years of experience in India's energy industry - will design and build the sophisticated piping and machinery for carrying out the vessel's commercial mission. 

H2C's proprietary floating green ammonia plant concept is based on longstanding FPSO technology. The unit would be deployed to sites with renewable offshore wind energy and turn it into green fuel. The strategy could be used for commercializing locations where an electrical export cable would be impractical or cost-prohibitive.

"Our . . . design represents a solution which addresses a number of concerns for renewable energy projects: costs, time, use of land and environmental footprint, lengthy planning and regulation processes," said Mårten Lunde, CEO of H2C. "By teaming up with L&T, we have taken a significant step towards creating an optimal supply chain for delivering . . . on a large scale to projects anywhere in the world.

The idea pairs a relatively conventional FPSO hull with an electronically controlled, integrated electrolyser (hydrogen) and Haber-Bosch (ammonia) system. H2C plans to build, own/lease and operate a fleet of these vessels. 

DNV has reviewed the design concept and provided an AIP, and H2Carrier has signed a letter of intent for a vessel installation with Greenland-based company Anori A/S.

"To  fast-track the progress towards the decarbonization goals, out-of-the-box thinking and innovative  solutions are the need of the hour. In this regard, our partnership with H2Carrier is very timely and is  expected to unleash synergies as we enjoy strong complementarities," said L&T's Subramanian Sarma, Whole-Time Director & Sr. Executive Vice President (Energy).