Egypt has extended a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power to allow it to continue exploring a planned 600,000 tonne per year green ammonia plant in the country.
According to local reports, the country’s National Green Hydrogen Council prolonged the agreement by 12 months during a recent meeting.
While the council also greenlit a proposed supporting 600MW solar plant, a prospective timeline for reaching final investment decision on the project remains undisclosed.
Unveiled in 2022, it targets 600,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year, with a second phase seeing a possible scale-up to two million tonnes. At the time, it was expected to be subject to over $4bn of investment.
In late 2023, it signed a framework agreement with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt for its initial 100,000 tonne per year phase.
Acwa revealed it was exploring selling ammonia from the project to Japanese major trading company Itochu Corporation in 2024.
Egypt has been looking to establish itself as a green molecule supplier in North Africa, using abundant low-cost renewable energy capacity and proximity to high-consumption markets in Europe.
In April, the Mediterranean Green Hydrogen Hub revealed plans for a 170,000-tonne green ammonia plant and the Egypt Amun Green Ammonia group began advancing a 400,000-tonne project.
More broadly, however, green hydrogen and derivative projects in Africa have struggled to get off the ground.
Earlier in the year, the Energy Industries Council (EIC) found that despite 38GW of planned clean hydrogen production capacity, only 17MW were in operation in the country. The lobby group urged developers to prioritise realistic offtake and to solidify local infrastructure and supply chains before investing.
