Progress on a green ammonia project in Denmark continues with ABB announcing on April 20 that it will handle electrical integration and advanced process control of the plant.
The power-to-ammonia plant in Lemvig is scheduled to start operating in 2024, using renewable energy from 12-MW wind turbines and 50-MW solar panels. When operational, the plant will produce 5,000 tons of ammonia a year. Companies involved in the project include developer and plant owner Skovgaard Energy, Vestas and Haldor Topsoe.
The 10-MW plant can gear down production when neither renewable energy source is present, making it adaptable to fluctuations in energy supply and different from similar types of Power-to-X (PtX) plants, which are directly connected to the grid, according to ABB.
Heavy industry and shipping are looking to ammonia as an alternative fuel because of its high energy volume and the ability to distribute it easily across existing infrastructure networks, ABB notes. However, typical production methods involve the use of fossil fuels.
“What makes dynamic plants unique is that they can produce green fuels when the sun shines and the wind blow and can gear production down when neither energy source is present,” explains ABB segment manager Jeppe Skovgaard Bentzen. “That makes them different from other types of PtX plants, which are directly connected to the grid, making them not quite as agile in terms of being able to adapt to fluctuations in renewable energy.
PtX plants are designed to convert green electricity to another form of energy, such as ammonia. Ammonia can contain a significantly more energy than hydrogen, making it more suitable as a fuel for heavy transportation, such as shipping, ABB notes. It’s may also be easier to distribute ammonia than hydrogen because the infrastructure is already in place, making ammonia easier to commercialize in the short term.
In addition to fuel for heavy transport, green ammonia also shows promise as an agricultural fertilizer. Most ammonia production for artificial fertilizer is currently produced using fossil fuels. It’s estimated that about 1% of global CO2 emissions come from traditional ammonia production.
