Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre inaugurated Europe’s largest 24 MW renewable hydrogen plant at Herøya Industrial Park. The plant is set up by fertilizer giant Yara International and has already started the production of renewable hydrogen and ammonia.
“This is a major milestone for Yara and for the decarbonisation of the food value chain, shipping fuel and other energy-intensive industries,” said Svein Tore Holsether, President & CEO of Yara.
The plant can produce 10 tonnes of green hydrogen per day and 20,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year and is expected to reduce 41,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
Holsether said, “This is a ground-breaking project and a testament to our mission to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. We are very pleased to have delivered the first tonnes of low-carbon footprint fertilizers to Lantmännen, a partnership that serves as a concrete example of how collaboration across the entire food value chain is required to decarbonise. Together, we have made this important step towards decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors.”
The low-carbon footprint fertilizers produced at the plant will be part of the company’s new portfolio – Yara Climate Choice. These solutions will benefit crops while at the same time contributing to decarbonising the food value chain and reducing climate impact. In addition to fertilizers produced with electrolysis of water and renewable energy, fertilizers based on low-carbon ammonia produced using carbon capture storage (CCS) will be a large part of Yara’s portfolio going forward.
“Renewable ammonia is an important part of the decarbonisation puzzle, however developing it at scale takes time. As the world is rapidly approaching 2030, we are also working to produce low-carbon ammonia with CCS to enable the hydrogen economy and develop the emerging markets for low-emission ammonia,” says Hans Olav Raen, CEO of Yara Clean Ammonia.