Chemical company Omnia Group and PNE subsidiary WKN Windcurrent have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to evaluate the onsite production of green hydrogen and ammonia in South Africa.
This new ammonia production will be powered by renewable energy from hybrid sources.
The PNE subsidiary is to develop the necessary equipment to combine energy generation from wind and solar with the production of the ammonia.
The objective is to produce competitively priced green ammonia in the range of up to 100,000 tonnes per annum, which would result in a saving of 180,000 tonnes per annum of CO2 emissions.
PNE chief executive Markus Lesser said: “We are pleased to have found an experienced partner in Omnia with whom we can collaborate to drive this important project for climate protection.
“Green hydrogen and its downstream products are key to facilitating South Africa’s decarbonisation and energy transition goals while unlocking sustainable growth opportunities.
“For our group of companies, this is also an important step in the implementation of our Scale up 2.0 strategy, in which solutions around Power-to-X play a significant role.”
In addition to the massive expansion of PNE’s electricity generation from wind and solar, solutions relating to power-to-X will also play an important role.