Chancellor Scholz described the agreements as “a boost for sustainable energy” (source: Federal /Thomas )
Canada’s EverWind Fuels Company has signed MoUs with Uniper Global Commodities and E.ON Hydrogen that will see the German companies purchase green ammonia from a new facility at Point Tupper in Nova Scotia
In the MoUs, both companies agreed to work towards offtake agreements for up to 500,000 tonnes per annum of green ammonia.
Point Tupper is a multi-phase green hydrogen and ammonia production and export facility, which is in advanced stages of development and is expected to reach commercial operation in early 2025.
As part of a staged development, EverWind Fuels intends to partner with offshore wind developers to expand production of green hydrogen and green ammonia. The plan aligns with an announcement by the Canadian andNova Scotiagovernments inApril 2022to expand the mandate ofNova Scotia’soffshore energy regime, to support the transition to a clean economy, and to create sustainable jobs.
The MoUs were announced ahead of a green /green ammonia exhibition in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador, attended by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Chancellor Scholz said, “I am pleased that E.ON and Uniper have signed MoUs for the supply of green ammonia from 2025. This is an important step not only to strengthen our bilateral economic relations, but also for sustainable energy supply.”
EverWind’s green hydrogen and ammonia facility is on a site at Port Hawkesbury that has an ice-free deepwater port with two berths that are capable of accommodating the largest vessels in the world.
Initially, the facility will produce green hydrogen and convert it into green ammonia using a mix of certified green power from the Nova Scotia grid and onshore wind power.
Further phases of the facility will be powered by offshore wind, which EverWind states will enable the production of over ten million tonnes per annum of green ammonia.
As highlighted by OWJ, Nova Scotia has one of the best wind resources anywhere in the world and has the potential to become an offshore wind province and exploit that resource to produce green hydrogen for world markets.
Aegir Insights chief executive and managing director Scott Urquhart and managing director research and strategy Rikke Nørgaard told a June 2021 webinar organised by the Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA) that the Canadian province has an exceptionally large technical potential for offshore wind. This is in large part because of high wind speeds offshore Nova Scotia, in excess of 10 m/second in many areas.
Aegir Insights experts told the webinar, ‘Offshore wind – a global perspective on its applicability in Atlantic Canada,’ that this technical potential includes 162 GW of bottom-fixed offshore wind and 776 GW of floating wind, with near-shore areas that are well-suited to the development of bottom-fixed projects, with water depths of 60 m or less.
Compared to the fast-developing offshore wind market on the east coast of the US, Nova Scotia does not have large load centres to which electricity from offshore wind might be exported, but this need not be an obstacle to the development of the industry, Aegir Insights believes.
“Nova Scotia doesn’t have big local needs,” Mr Urquhart explained, “but electricity could be exported to the US, and hybrid power-to-X projects have significant potential in the province.”
Ms Nørgaard told the webinar that offshore wind is “no longer dependent on local markets” in the way that it once was and that power generated offshore no longer depended on a grid connection for electricity.
“Good wind speeds mean you can produce power offshore and export it in another form,” she explained. “Power-to-X provides unique route-to-market opportunities for offshore wind in the province,” she told the OERA webinar.
“Nova Scotia has many of the prerequisites for power-to-X. Renewable generation can be exported wherever there is demand and hybrid projects like this are where Nova Scotia has a big opportunity.”
