Green Cat Renewables has made a strategic investment Eneus, which produces ‘green’ ammonia, a carrier for hydrogen.
The investment, for an undisclosed sum, by the Scotland-headquartered consultancy will be used to develop a pipeline of ammonia production sites powered by renewable energy.
Edinburgh-based Eneus Energy, founded in 2013, integrates existing, proven, industrial technologies, to take surplus and constrained renewables-generated electricity to produce ‘green’ ammonia, without any associated greenhouse gas emissions.
Green Cat Renewables director and founder Gavin Catto said: “We have realised for some time that decarbonising the world is going to require a more joined up approach than simply putting wind turbines on every hill top.
“Projects like this, where renewable energy is converted to hydrogen, where it can be used for road transport and/or heating decoupling generation from use are important.”
He added there is also the potential for green hydrogen production to provide grid balancing services.
A major part of the cost of delivering hydrogen is the cost of storing and moving it, as a gas or liquid, from where it is produced to point of use.
Eneus Energy is developing integrated green hydrogen plants which convert the hydrogen into ammonia, which liquefies at -33°C, compared to hydrogen which forms a liquid at -253°C.
According to Green Cat, for some end-use sectors, transmission and distribution costs are twice as large as the cost of hydrogen production, so transport and storage costs for green ammonia will help make hydrogen more competitive.
Ammonia can be used directly to co-fire alongside existing fuels, where pure hydrogen is required, following an additional de-hydrogenation step to liberate the hydrogen for final consumption via commercially available conversion technologies.
Eneus chief executive Chris Bronsdon said: “Global markets and policy are all highlighting a rapid move from carbon-based fuels, to hydrogen and ammonia.
“Green Cat is aligned with Eneus’s vision and brings a highly experienced resource to the development of our global projects.”