Samsung Heavy Industries will exclusively produce in South Korea the new generation ammonia-powered battery (PowerPack) developed by the American clean energy R&D company AMOGY Inc. (referred to as Amogy), accelerating the construction of an eco-friendly fuel ecosystem.
Recently, Samsung Heavy Industries announced that it signed an agreement with Amogy, securing the contract for the exclusive production of Amogy’s ammonia-powered batteries in South Korea. Through this contract, Samsung Heavy Industries has secured the exclusive domestic production rights for Amogy’s products for at least three years and will collaborate with Amogy on the mass production and optimization of cracking modules for land-based power generation.
The ammonia-powered battery is a device that extracts hydrogen from ammonia to produce electricity, belonging to a zero-carbon eco-friendly power generation system. It can be used not only for marine generators but also adapted for land-based generators, making it a focus of attention as a new generation clean power technology.
Lee Ho-gi, Executive Vice President and Head of the Eco-friendly Research Center at Samsung Heavy Industries, stated: “In the scaling development of startups, Samsung Heavy Industries will leverage its manufacturing capabilities to contribute to building an eco-friendly fuel ecosystem. We will continue to explore long-term collaboration plans with Amogy.”
Seonghoon Woo, CEO and Co-founder of Amogy, said: “We hope that through this cooperation, ammonia-based decarbonization technology can be implemented in actual industrial scenarios, contributing to decarbonization both on land and at sea simultaneously.”
Amogy is a startup that develops fuel cell systems. It was founded in 2020 by four doctoral alumni from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US who shared a common vision. The company’s employees are primarily PhD-level talents, and its executives are of Korean descent. The company’s investors include the Climate Pledge Fund from Inc., the UK hydrogen energy company AP Ventures, the South Korean energy company SK Innovation, Saudi Aramco Ventures, and the US venture capital firm DCVC, among others.
It is reported that Amogy provides ammonia-based, emission-free, high-energy-density power solutions to achieve decarbonization in the heavy-duty transportation industry and accelerate the global achievement of net-zero emissions by 2050. To date, Amogy has completed validation tests using ammonia fuel cell systems in a 5kW-class drone and a 100kW-class tractor. Its scalable ammonia-powered zero-emission energy system has achieved great success in large industrial transport vehicles such as drones, heavy-duty tractors, and trucks.
Since ammonia emits no carbon dioxide at all when burned, it has attracted attention as a fuel that could significantly contribute to emission reduction in the maritime industry and is expected to be used as a stable, clean energy source in the future. To unlock the potential of ammonia energy, Amogy has developed an innovative ammonia power system that cracks liquid ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen, then delivers the hydrogen to a fuel cell to generate high-performance electricity, offering advantages such as high efficiency, cleanliness, and low noise. Amogy already possesses the technology to miniaturize this device to one-hundredth of its original volume.
In February of this year, Samsung Heavy Industries signed a Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amogy for the development of new generation ammonia power technology and made a strategic investment. According to the agreement, both parties plan to focus their efforts on developing a new generation ammonia-powered battery most suitable for large vessels. Through this, they aim to lead in super-gap technology for ammonia energy while also creating an opportunity to lead in eco-friendly ship power technology.
Subsequently, the two parties established a dedicated task force (TF) and developed test methods, standards, and protocols for Amogy products, building manufacturing equipment, process control systems, and raw material supply chains. Samsung Heavy Industries plans to expand its ammonia power demonstration facilities within its Geoje shipyard by the end of this year for product production and verification, and to commence formal production of ammonia-powered batteries from 2026.
It is reported that to prepare for the “post-LNG era,” Samsung Heavy Industries is developing products that provide integrated value chain solutions from the offshore production of ammonia to its utilization.
Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy estimates that by the mid-2030s, the trade volume of clean ammonia will reach 76 million tons, four times the trade volume in 2020. By 2050, annual ammonia exports will exceed 120 million tons, with the majority coming from Africa and North America.
The South Korean industry indicates that the total global order volume for liquid ammonia carriers is expected to reach 150-200 ships by 2035, with an annual demand of about 20 ships. Considering the average annual order volume for VLGCs over the past decade was 26 ships, the relevant market is expected to double in size.
In June last year, the design for an ammonia fuel cell-powered very large ammonia carrier (VLAC), jointly developed by Samsung Heavy Industries and Amogy, received an Approval in Principle (AiP) certificate from the British classification society Lloyd’s Register (LR). In this VLAC type, both the main propulsion engine and the power generation engine are entirely replaced by ammonia fuel cells, enabling the construction of an eco-friendly ship with no sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and absolutely no carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, as it does not require equipment related to existing internal combustion engines and fuel, it can not only minimize mechanical vibration and noise on the ship but also save on maintenance costs.
