Amp locks in contracts for massive 10GW Cape Hardy green hydrogen and ammonia project

A major green hydrogen, green ammonia and advanced fuels project backed by up to 10GW of electrolyser capacity has taken a crucial step forward in South Australia, with the finalisation of all required commercial agreements announced by developer Amp Energy.

Amp Energy reported the milestone on Tuesday, which includes a deal with ASX-listed resources outfit Iron Road to develop its Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels project within Iron Road’s 1,207-hectare Cape Hardy Industrial Port Precinct, on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

A range of commercial agreements were executed and finalised in partnership with Iron Road, which owns the proposed Central Eyre Iron Project, an iron ore mine alongside a deepwater port at Cape Hardy. The two companies also finalised the project’s royalty structure and a common user infrastructure agreement.

The Canadian renewables developer was last year tapped by Iron road to lead development of the huge green hydrogen and ammonia production project proposed for the Cape Hardy Port Precinct, following a three-month competitive process.

But Amp in January sought a three-month extension to an agreement underpinning the project, buying time to finalise and execute transaction documents for its next phase.

Amp says development of the Cape Hardy Green Hydrogen project will now take place in stages, scaling up from 1GW through incremental stages to reach 10GW of total capacity, with plans to produce green ammonia, liquid hydrogen, methanol, and sustainable aviation fuel.

Desalinated water for the electrolysers will be sourced from the recently announced Northern Water Supply (NWS) seawater desalination plant that will be located at Cape Hardy to meet the project’s demand for electrolyser feed water, cooling water, process plant water, and fire water.

Cooperation is also ongoing with the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC so as to ensure “meaningful” economic impact on the region. Amp Energy expects the first gigawatt electrolyser alone will result in approximately 4,000 and 6,000 indirect jobs.

Amp Energy has already seen the project’s concept, design, and pre-Front End Engineering Design (FEED) phase studied and reviewed by two leading global engineering firms, Arup and Technip Technologies.

Amp Energy hopes to complete the pre-FEED studies for the first 1GW electrolyser phase over the next 9 months, while FEED scoping and contracting is already underway ahead of a planned awarding of the FEED contract in late 2024 or early 2025.

“We are seeing growing demand for Advanced Fuels both in Australia and abroad,” said Paul Ezekiel, Amp Energy president and co-founder.

“This includes green ammonia, liquid hydrogen, methanol, and sustainable aviation fuel. The Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct will allow for large-scale production of these fuels that will be critical to the energy transition and achieving net zero targets.

“We could not be more excited about the project’s potential impact, and we are grateful for the partnership and continued support from Iron Road Ltd, the South Australian Government and BDAC as we progress full steam ahead on development.”

Iron Road CEO Larry Ingle says the green hydrogen project demonstrates the unique characteristics and value proposition the company’s Cape Hardy Industrial Port Precinct, which will play an integral role in South Australia’s hydrogen and green iron strategies.

“The complementary agreements reached with both Northern Water and Amp will further drive… the next step in our corporate development trajectory,” Ingle said.