Fertiliser company Yara International has today (Monday, June 10) officially opened its renewable hydrogen plant located in Norway.
The facility in Heroya Industrial Park, in the south of the country, is now producing renewable hydrogen and ammonia.
Yara said it has already delivered the first tonnes of fertilisers made from renewable ammonia produced at this plant.
The hydrogen is produced with electrolysis of water and renewable energy, replacing natural gas as feedstock and annually cutting 41,000t of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the site.
Yara
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store inaugurated the 24 megawatt (MW) renewable hydrogen plant, the largest of its kind currently in operation in Europe
Svein Tore Holsether, president and chief executive of Yara, said that the facility is “a major milestone” for the company and for “the decarbonisation of the food value chain, shipping fuel and other energy intensive industries”.
“This is a ground-breaking project and a testament to our mission to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet,” he said.
Yara said that the first tonnes of “low-carbon footprint fertilisers” were delivered to Lantmannen, a Swedish agricultural co-op owned by 19,000 Swedish farmers.
The company added that the fertilisers will be part of a new portfolio called “Yara Climate Choice”.
“Renewable ammonia is an important part of the decarbonisation puzzle, however developing it at scale takes time,” Hans Olav Raen, chief executive of Yara Clean Ammonia, said.
“As the world is rapidly approaching 2030, we are also working to produce low-carbon ammonia with carbon capture storage (CCS) to enable the hydrogen economy and develop the emerging markets for low-emission ammonia,” he added.
Yara previously reported that first-quarter (Q1) earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2024 were $435 million compared to $487 million in first quarter of 2023, a decrease of 11%.
Net income was $16 million ($0.07 per share) compared with $105 million ($0.41 per share) a year earlier.
Total deliveries however were up 12% with European deliveries up 37% from Q1 2023.