Egypt grants final approval to $5.5bn green hydrogen and ammonia project near Suez Canal
‘Golden licence’ also awarded to the $135m, 100MW Egypt Green renewable H2 project in same area
The Egyptian cabinet has granted ‘golden licences’ to two green hydrogen projects in the industrial zone of Ain Sokhna, a port town on the Red Sea, 55km south of the Suez Canal.
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The golden licence grants full approval for each project to go ahead in one single step, including the rights to operate and manage the project, land allocation and building permits.
The larger project will produce one million tonnes of green ammonia derived from renewable H2 annually, with an investment cost of $5.5bn, says the statement, and be developed by the “Misr Green Ammonia Company” — an entity for which no information is available. “Misr” is the Arabic word for “Egypt”.
No further details about this unnamed facility have been revealed, although one of the eight green hydrogen projects that received new framework agreements from the Egyptian government at COP27 last month seems to have similar dimensions.
That 2GW green hydrogen project in the SCZONE — being developed by an unnamed consortium consisting of Abu Dhabi-based Masdar and Egyptian firms Hassan Allam Utilities and Infinity Power Holding — would produce 2.3 million tonnes of green ammonia if extended to 4GW, the partners stated last month.
The other golden licence was for the “Egypt Green” project, which will produce 15,000 tonnes of green hydrogen a year using a 100MW electrolyser to produce 90,000 tonnes of green ammonia.
A 5MW Plug Power PEM electrolyser has already been installed at the first phase of the project, which is being developed by the Egypt Green Hydrogen Company — a joint venture between Norwegian renewables developer Scatec, Abu Dhabi-based fertilizer producer Fertiglobe, Egyptian engineering and construction contractor Orascom and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt.
When it was announced last year, the Egypt Green project was due to be completed before COP27, but it has been severely delayed, with production from the 5MW first phase not expected until early next year.
A final investment decision on the full 100MW project is due to be taken next year, according to a consortium spokesperson.
The SCZONE boasts both high wind speeds and strong solar irradiation levels that are able to produce cheap wind and solar electricity — which makes up 60-70% of the costs of green hydrogen.
An analysis from the International Renewable Energy Agency published earlier this year suggested that green hydrogen can be produced in Egypt at below $1/kg as a result of abundant wind and solar and plenty of space to build utility-scale renewables.