A planned Norwegian green ammonia plant aims to help decarbonize Arctic shipping

By Trine Jonassen, High North News - June 28, 2021
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Berlevåg, Norway could soon be home to a green ammonia plant. (Berlevåg municipality via High North News)

Aker Clean Hydrogen and Varanger Kraft, joint venture partners in a planned green ammonia and hydrogen production project in northern Norway, said they will consider doubling the plant’s production capacities, according to The Maritime Executive.

The news comes as the International Maritime Organization earlier this month adopted a ban on the use of heavy fuel oil in Arctic.

Ammonia is considered one promising alternative candidate to replace fossil fuels for uses where a liquid fuel is key, such as shipping or off-grid power plants — provided it is produced using green energy.

The plant — planned for Berlevåg, in Troms og Finnmark County in Northern Norway — would use electricity from the nearby Raggovidda wind farm to produce the ammonia.

The companies aim to start production by 2024, which could make the project one of the first such commercial plants of its kind to go into production.