Air Products plans to build green ammonia import terminal in Hamburg and convert cargo back into hydrogen
Project is third 'green-energy' terminal announced for northwest Germany as country shifts away from reliance on Russian gas
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Air Products — which claims to be the world’s largest hydrogen producer — is partnering on the project with Oiltanking Deutschland, a subsidiary of the German oil trading company Mabanaft, which already owns an existing liquid-fuels terminal at the Port of Hamburg.
The joint development agreement announced on Thursday in Hamburg, at a ceremony attended by federal economic and climate minister Robert Habeck, is light on details such as how much money the partners would invest in the terminal, when a final investment decision is expected, and how much hydrogen the terminal could supply each year.
“Therefore, the best export markets for green hydrogen producers are likely to be those with direct uses of ammonia, such as in fertiliser manufacture — avoiding the need for reconversion.”
A press release about the Hamburg project called it “Germany’s first large-scale green energy import terminal”, but it may have to compete for that title with two other projects.
Although it is not yet clear which of these projects will eventually get the green light from the German government, it is clear that Germany is racing to reduce its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, and massively ramping up its efforts to secure green hydrogen imports.
“Now more than ever, we need to advance the hydrogen economy. To do this, we are setting up our own hydrogen production in Germany, but of course we also need hydrogen from imports,” Habeck said at the launch ceremony. “An accelerated energy transition with more speed in expanding renewable energies and ramping up green hydrogen are the right answers to the Russian aggression and the right answers to strengthen energy security, resilience and competitiveness.”
The EU plans to import ten million tonnes of green hydrogen from outside of the bloc by 2030 as part of its REpowerEU scheme.