Low carbon hydrogen/ammonia provides a pathway to lower emissions: The proposed project will leverage combined resources and project development expertise to implement technologies to reduce CO2 emissions in the US, Germany, and Japan as well as in greater Asia and Europe.
Project planning focused on achieving verifiable low carbon intensity (CI): ConocoPhillips and JERA Americas have an ambition to be a low-cost and low carbon intensity (CI) hydrogen producer. The companies can create the scale necessary to achieve these goals. As the core customer, Uniper values the aim to produce a verified, low-carbon product.
Project location is planned to be on US Gulf Coast: The Gulf Coast provides a skilled workforce, plentiful natural gas, deep water ports and suitable geology for carbon capture and sequestration. Combined with supportive federal tax policies, the Gulf Coast is an ideal location to produce low carbon fuel to support the American, European, and Asian energy transition.
JERA Americas & Uniper announced today a non-binding Heads of Agreement, together with ConocoPhillips, for an ammonia sale to Uniper and that moves their cooperation on development of a low-carbon ammonia production facility along the US Gulf Coast to the next phase. The announcement builds on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the parties signed in September 2022 to assess the potential for developing ammonia production facilities in the region. The project would have an initial production capacity of 2 MTPA of low-carbon ammonia with potential for expansion in the future.
ConocoPhillips and JERA Americas (a wholly owned subsidiary of JERA Co., Inc.) plan to jointly develop the production facility project which would accelerate production and supply of low-carbon fuel to markets in the US, Europe, Japan, and greater Asia. The project will also include evaluation and development of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) facilities. The proposed ammonia production facility would produce hydrogen and convert it into clean ammonia for transport to markets abroad with a target of achieving first commercial deliveries by the end of the decade.
Steven O’Rourke, Chief Executive Officer of JERA Americas said, “We are very pleased to announce this contracting progress with Uniper SE as a core customer for our low carbon hydrogen/ammonia project. In close collaboration with our development partner ConocoPhillips, this builds on the sales MOU we signed last year. The rapid development of global-scale, low carbon hydrogen/ammonia production is critical to the timely realization of our collective global energy transition initiatives. We continue to see strong demand for ammonia as a hydrogen carrier to a wide variety of users in Europe and Asia.”
Carsten Poppinga, Chief Commercial Officer for Uniper SE said: “Projects like this one are critical to moving responsibly toward greener feedstocks while ensuring security of supply for our customers. Developing production capability now to ensure the clean hydrogen and ammonia volumes that will be needed in the future is a key aspect to accelerating the energy transition in Europe and globally. This project offers some real opportunities in that regard, and we are pleased to be associated with it.”
Uniper separately has also announced it plans for a "Green Wilhelmshaven" with its combination of hydrogen imports and production to create a common European hydrogen market and has already submitted the project to the German Federal Ministry of Economics as an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI). IPCEIs are intended to promote integrated projects along the entire hydrogen value chain.
About JERA Americas
JERA Americas is the Houston-based subsidiary of JERA, which stands for Japan’s Energy for a New Era, and is a joint venture of two major companies that produce about 30% of the electricity in Japan (TEPCO Fuel & Power Incorporated and Chubu Electric Power Company.) JERA is an energy company with global reach that has strength in the entire energy supply chain, from participation in LNG upstream projects and fuel procurement, through fuel transportation to power generation. JERA is committed to achieving net zero CO2 emissions from its businesses by 2050 and is supporting an energy transition in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. JERA continues to move forward with its plans to lower its carbon footprint in Japan by using ammonia to displace coal in its fleet of modern coal power plants. JERA is also working with other utilities in Japan, Korea and across Asia to create low carbon supply alternatives and deliver modern technology solutions to global energy issues. For more information: jera.co.jp/en/corporate or linkedin.com/company/jeraamericas/
About Uniper
Dusseldorf-based Uniper is an international energy company with activities in more than 40 countries. The company and its roughly 7,000 employees make an important contribution to supply security in Europe, particularly in its core markets of Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
Uniper’s operations encompass power generation in Europe, global energy trading, and a broad gas portfolio. Uniper procures gas—including liquefied natural gas (LNG)—and other energy sources on global markets. The company owns and operates gas storage facilities with a total capacity of more than 7 billion cubic meters.
Uniper intends to be completely carbon-neutral by 2040. Uniper aims for its installed power generating capacity to be more than 80% zero-carbon by 2030. To achieve this, the company is transforming its power plants and facilities and investing in flexible, dispatchable power generating units. Uniper is already one of Europe’s largest operators of hydropower plants and is helping further expand solar and wind power, which are essential for a more sustainable and secure future. The company is progressively expanding its gas portfolio to include green gases like hydrogen and biomethane and aims to convert to these gases over the long term.
Uniper is a reliable partner for communities, municipal utilities, and industrial enterprises for planning and implementing innovative, lower-carbon solutions on their decarbonization journey. Uniper is a hydrogen pioneer, is active worldwide along the entire hydrogen value chain, and is conducting projects to make hydrogen a mainstay of the energy supply. For more details: https://www.uniper.energy.
