World Energy GH2, the developer of a major green hydrogen production facility in Newfoundland and Labrador, has filed an amended Environmental Impact Statement after its initial application was deemed insufficient by provincial authorities.
The developer said in the EIS that it now prefers PEM electrolyzers instead of using a mix of PEM and solid oxide electrolyzer cells, citing PEM’s technology readiness. In addition, using a single electrolyzer technology “reduces technology and construction schedule risk,” according to the developer.
The ammonia plant will be a standard Haber Bosch design, currently in the early phases of development by a leading ammonia licensor, Haldor Topsoe of Denmark, the company said in the filing.
The project, Nujio’qonik, involves the development, construction, operation and maintenance, and eventual decommissioning and rehabilitation of two onshore wind farms and one of the first Canadian commercial-scale, green hydrogen and ammonia production plants powered by renewable wind energy.
Located on the western coast of the Island of Newfoundland, key components of the project will include onshore wind farms, situated on Crown lands in the Port au Port and Anguille Mountains areas of NL, and a hydrogen / ammonia plant, situated on a privately owned brownfield site at the Port of Stephenville (in the Town of Stephenville, NL) that is zoned for industrial use.
The wind farms will each generate approximately 1 GW of renewable power that will be transmitted to the hydrogen / ammonia plant and used to produce up to approximately 206,000 metric tonnes of green hydrogen (equivalent to approximately 1.17 megatonnes [Mt] of ammonia) annually via electrolysis, according to the document.
The hydrogen / ammonia plant will have an installed electrolyzer capacity of approximately 1,200 MW and will have the ability to be expanded in the future.
The project was initially expected to produce the first green hydrogen by the end of Q2 2024, but has been delayed. A schedule update is in progress as part of the FEED (Front End Engineering Design) Readiness Assessment process. This update, considering factors such as Long Lead Item availability and Offtaker delivery requirements, is an essential step before the start of FEED and is expected to be released around April 15, 2024.
The CBC reported that the total cost of the project is estimated at $12bn.
In October, 2023, the Newfoundland and Labrador Ministry of Environment and Climate Change deemed that the environmental impact statement submitted by the company was deemed to be deficient. An executive at the company told Reuters in December that the project would be delayed due to the inability of offtakers to handle the product.
In May, 2023, the company closed a deal under which SK ecoplant is initially investing $50m in Project Nujio’qonik, acquiring a 20 per cent stake in World Energy GH2 Limited Partnership.
