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China’s green hydrogen industry has been growing like gangbusters while other nations struggle with the basics. Now some countries are taking the easy way out by importing electrolyzer systems manufactured in China. The aim is to release the hydrogen supply chain from the grip of fossil fuel with a ripple effect on fertilizer, too. That explains why Italy and Brazil are hitching a ride on electrolysis systems from China. But, what explains Oman?
The Green Hydrogen Ripple Effect
Green hydrogen refers to hydrogen pushed from water by electrolysis systems, which run on electricity from renewable resources. That’s the goal, at least. There are some complicating factors when a grid mix is involved, but renewable energy is the keyword. Biomass and wastewater are also in play as resources, but much of the public and private investor focus is on water electrolysis with renewable energy.
If all goes according to plan, green hydrogen pushes today’s main hydrogen resources — natural gas and coal — out of the supply chain. That will help advocates for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles make make a stronger case for zero emission mobility, but transportation is just a sliver of the global hydrogen market. The decarbonization impact will be more significant on traditional hydrogen consumers, including oil refining and methanol production as well as the chemicals industry and food processing.
Green hydrogen could also help accelerate decarbonization as other major industries, such as steel and concrete, seek to switch out of fossil fuels.
The big kahuna, though, is the global fertilizer industry. Fertilizer production is a leading consumer of hydrogen. The industry has been thrown into crisis mode because ammonia fertilizer (chemical formula NH3) leans heavily on natural gas for hydrogen, and US President Donald Trump’s war on Iran has sent the natural gas market into a spiral.
Trump Drops Green Hydrogen Ball, China Picks It Up
The newly launched Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program was supposed to help expand and diversify the hydrogen supply for fertilizer and other US industries. However, Trump promptly dismantled the program upon taking office last year.
That was just Trump being Trump. Meanwhile, China has continued to be China. While Trump has been playing Wreck-It-Ralph over at the White House, China’s green hydrogen industry was already surging ahead of the global pack as of last year.
In the latest development, the Chinese firm Sungrow Hydrogen has just announced a “major accomplishment in its global engagement with the back-to-back shipment of its flexible green hydrogen systems to Oman, Italy and Brazil.”
In terms of decarbonizing the fertilizer supply chain, Oman seems odd man out here. However, Oman is among the oil-producing nations seeking economic growth beyond the oil business. That includes expanding and diversifying its agriculture industry.
Sure enough, Sungrow’s electrolysers have been earmarked for a new green ammonia facility owned by the Indian firm ACME Group, deploying 160 megawatts worth of alkaline electrolysis systems. ACME has been setting up shop at the Special Economic Zone at Duqm, with the aim of producing 100,000 metric tons of green ammonia annually beginning next year.
In an interview last December, the EVP of ACME, Arnava Sinha, underscored Oman’s renewable energy profile as a key element in the plan, alongside a “strong and supportive government framework.”
Meanwhile, Here In The US …
Meanwhile, here in the US, there was a supportive government framework … oh, never mind. Rounding out Sungrow’s triple play, the company is shipping a 3-megawatt containerized PEM system to Italy, where it will become that country’s first off-grid, solar-powered green hydrogen system integrated with energy storage. The focus is on transportation markets as well as other industrial uses.
Another containerized electrolysis system is heading to Brazil. “Engineered to accommodate wide fluctuations in solar power input, the system complies with rigorous international standards—including ASME and ISO 22734 — alongside Brazil’s local Inmetro and NR certifications,” Sungrow explains.
“The system is expected to support hydrogen-natural gas blending trials, contributing to Brazil’s energy transition and the advancement of its commercial hydrogen sector in operation,” Sungrow elaborates.
Green Hydrogen Fertilizer Is Coming To The US, Eventually
Sungrow has also established a broader footprint in Europe, highlighted by a new green hydrogen R&D facility in Germany, so keep an eye out for news from that area.
As for the US, now that MAGA suddenly loves solar, perhaps the prospects for a domestic green ammonia fertilizer industry are not so dismal after all. One firm to watch is the Texas-based ag tech startup Talusag. The company began revving up plans for local green ammonia fertilizer production in the US last year, initially with a focus on solar power. The company is also pitching its business as a means of reducing wind turbine curtailment, with the electrolyzers sucking up excess wattage during periods when demand from other ratepayers is low.
On the academic side, improving electrolyzer efficiency and cutting costs have been two areas of intense focus among green hydrogen advocates. Researchers over at the University of Illinois-Chicago have also come up with a system that more broadly addresses decarbonization in the fertilizer production process, with the aim of enabling farmers to produce ammonia “in their own backyards.” The research team has created a room-temperature reaction that deploys calcium to bind with nitrogen to form calcium nitride, which then combines with hydrogen to form ammonia.
The method is source-agnostic as to the hydrogen. Eventually, the team, headed up by UIC chemical engineering professor Meenesh Singh, aims to integrate water as the starting point of the process.
Stay tuned for next steps. The proof-of-concept model for the system is one square centimeter. With the firm General Ammonia Co. as a partner in the project, the next step is scaling up to 100 square meters.
Elsewhere around the US, green hydrogen plans were suspended or dropped entirely after Trump yanked federal support for new initiatives. Still, some activity continues. Last December, for example, the leading utility Duke Energy announced a successful test of a solar-powered green hydrogen system at its DeBary facility in Volusia County, Florida.
In another interesting development, last December the Indian green hydrogen and ammonia firm Synergen Green Energy tapped the Massachusetts startup Electric Hydrogen to supply electrolysis systems for a proposed e-fuels project in the US aimed at the export market.
“Electric Hydrogen will support integration of two of its flagship 120 MW HYPRPlants as part of the front-end engineering and design (FEED) agreement for this project. Once constructed, the facility will be capable of producing approximately 210,000 tons per annum (TPA) of ammonia for maritime and industrial applications in Europe and Asia,” Electric Hydrogen explained in a press statement.
This is not Electric Hydrogen’s first run at the US market. The company is also a contributor to the Project Roadrunner e-fuels facility in Texas, and the Texas firm HIF Global has also tapped it for another proposed e-fuels project in the state.
Photo: US President Donald Trump has busted up plans for a domestic green hydrogen industry in the US, but he can’t stop Chinese firms from staking out a claim in the global market (cropped, courtesy of Sungrow).
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