A renewable hydrogen plant will be built to provide feedstock into the Yara ammonia operations near Karratha in Western Australia following the final investment decision on the project.

Known as Project Yuri, Yara Clean Ammonia has collaborated with ENGIE to develop the plant, which will be built on the existing Yara Pilbara lease and adjacent to the company’s world-scale anhydrous ammonia production facility.

Yara Clean Ammonia President Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand said the Yara processing plant would be the first established operational facilities in Western Australia to receive and use green hydrogen molecules to produce clean ammonia. Albeit small this will provide us and our partners significant learning

The significance of the project has been recognized by the Australian Government with a $47.5 million grant through ARENA’s Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round.

The Western Australian State Government has also supported Yuri with a $2 million grant contribution from the State’s Renewable Hydrogen Fund.

“We value this support from government which provides further validation of the Yuri project as a credible early mover in the development of renewable hydrogen opportunities,” Ankarstrand said.

“Yara brings to the project extensive operational experience in Australia and our company’s global leadership in developing a clean ammonia market for diverse application such as carbon-free food production, low-emission fuel for shipping and power, and ammonia for industrial applications,” Ankarstrand said.

The Yuri project includes a 10 MW electrolyzer, 18 MW of solar PV and battery storage. Once completed, the project will be one of Australia’s largest electrolysers, capable of producing up to 640 tonnes of green hydrogen each year.

Yuri Operations Pty Ltd will build the renewable hydrogen facility and supply the green hydrogen to Yara Clean Ammonia. The construction is scheduled to commence later this year in October 2022. The renewable hydrogen production is scheduled to commence and be supplied to the ammonia plant in 2024.

A consortium of Technip Energies and Monford Group has been awarded the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning (EPCC) contract for the renewable hydrogen plant.

Yara Pilbara General Manager Laurent Trost said Project Yuri was an exciting and transformational project for the company’s processing operations in the Pilbara which comprise the ammonia plant and a technical ammonium nitrate facility.

“Yuri is a key step in the decarbonization of our operations which already supply markets in Asia and Australia,” Trost said.

The development of Project Yuri has also paved the way for the Yara Pilbara Fertilizers ammonia plant to be recognized under the Smart Energy Council Zero Carbon Certification Scheme.

The plant has been given pre-certification as result of the commitment to produce renewable ammonia from energy produced by on-site solar PV. The Yara plant is the first green ammonia project to receive the Council’s certification.

Bureau Veritas, a world leader in testing, inspection and certification were engaged to undertake the technical assessments for the pre-certification.