Japan to subsidise import terminal receiving US blue ammonia volumes | Hydrogen News

Japan will subsidise an ammonia import terminal in Hokkaido that will rely on volumes produced in Louisiana, US.

State-backed Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) said it would provide support to Hokkaido Electric Power (HEPCO) to establish the ammonia import and supply facility that will be operated alongside domestic players.

While subsidy values and the expected volumes of ammonia to be handled by the hub were not disclosed, it will receive volumes from a 1.4 million tonne per year blue hydrogen-based plant in Louisiana.

The $4bn Blue Point project reached final investment decision last April and is being developed by Japanese power firm Jera and conglomerate Mitsui alongside US fertiliser maker CF Industries.

Jera and Mitsui will offtake volumes relative to their respective 35% and 25% stakes in the development.

HEPCO, Mitsui, marine logistics company Tomakomai Futo, and heavy engineering firm IHI Corporation will operate the terminal, with most of the hub’s capacity earmarked for co-firing at HEPCO’s Tomato-Atsuma 1.65GW coal-fired power station by 2032.

A portion will also be used in industrial furnaces by Mitsubishi’s cement production branch.

Ammonia is praised for its ease-of-transport compared with hydrogen carriers like liquid hydrogen, which required temperatures as low as -253°C to prevent boil-off losses. However, its combustion is seen as relatively inefficient.

Japan has been increasing efforts to procure hydrogen and derivatives from foreign markets to meet power and industrial decarbonisation goals, as limited renewable energy resources and high costs hamper in-country production.

In March, a four-part Japanese consortium began lining up a hydrogen trade-corridor with New Zealand.

The broader Asia Pacific region is also looking at the molecule for low-carbon power production, with South Korea and Singapore tendering for energy assets fuelled by hydrogen and ammonia.