Yara at the forefront of clean ammonia in Australia

(L-R) Leigh Holder, Yara Pilbara Business Development Director, Kevin Michel, Member for Pilbara, Alannah MacTiernan, Minister for Agriculture and Food in Western Australia, Darren Miller, ARENA CEO, Andrew Hyland, ENGIE Australia & New Zealand CEO, Laurent Trost, Yara Pilbara General Manager.

Known as Project Yuri, Yara Clean Ammonia has collaborated with ENGIE to develop the plant, which will be built on the existing Yara Pilbara lease and adjacent to the company’s world-scale anhydrous ammonia production facility.

Yara Clean Ammonia President Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand said the Yara processing plant would be the first established operational facilities in Western Australia to receive and use green hydrogen molecules to produce clean ammonia. Albeit small this will provide us and our partners significant learning

The significance of the project has been recognized by the Australian Government with a AUD $47.5 million grant through ARENA’s Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round.

Yara Pilbara, WA

The Western Australian State Government has also supported Yuri with a AUD $2 million grant contribution from the State’s Renewable Hydrogen Fund.

“We value this support from government which provides further validation of the Yuri project as a credible early mover in the development of renewable hydrogen opportunities,” Mr Ankarstrand said.

“Yara brings to the project extensive operational experience in Australia and our company’s global leadership in developing a clean ammonia market for diverse application such as carbon-free food production, low-emission fuel for shipping and power, and ammonia for industrial applications,” Mr Ankarstrand said.

The Yuri project includes a 10 MW electrolyzer, 18 MW of solar PV and battery storage. Once completed, the project will be one of Australia’s largest electrolysers, capable of producing up to 640 tonnes of green hydrogen each year.

Yuri Operations Pty Ltd will build the renewable hydrogen facility and supply the green hydrogen to Yara Clean Ammonia. The construction is scheduled to commence later this year in October 2022. The renewable hydrogen production is scheduled to commence and be supplied to the ammonia plant in 2024.

A consortium of Technip Energies and Monford Group has been awarded the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning (EPCC) contract for the renewable hydrogen plant.

Yara Pilbara General Manager Laurent Trost said Project Yuri was an exciting and transformational project for the company’s processing operations in the Pilbara which comprise the ammonia plant and a technical ammonium nitrate facility.

“Yuri is a key step in the decarbonization of our operations which already supply markets in Asia and Australia,” Mr Trost said.

The development of Project Yuri has also paved the way for the Yara Pilbara Fertilizers ammonia plant to be recognized under the Smart Energy Council Zero Carbon Certification Scheme.

The plant has been given pre-certification as result of the commitment to produce renewable ammonia from energy produced by on-site solar PV. The Yara plant is the first green ammonia project to receive the Council’s certification.

Bureau Veritas, a world leader in testing, inspection and certification were engaged to undertake the technical assessments for the pre-certification.

About Yara
Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Supporting our vision of a world without hunger and a planet respected, we pursue a strategy of sustainable value growth, promoting climate-friendly crop nutrition and zero-emission energy solutions. Yara’s ambition is focused on growing a nature positive food future that creates value for our customers, shareholders and society at large and delivers a more sustainable food value chain.

To achieve our ambition, we have taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming and work closely with partners throughout the food value chain to improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production. Through our focus on clean ammonia production, we aim to enable the hydrogen economy, driving a green transition of shipping, fertilizer production and other energy intensive industries.

Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has established a unique position as the industry’s only global crop nutrition company. We operate an integrated business model with around 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries, with a proven track record of strong returns. In 2021, Yara reported revenues of USD 16.6 billion. https://www.yara.com

About Yara Clean Ammonia (YCA)
Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Yara Clean Ammonia is uniquely positioned to enable the hydrogen economy in a market expected to grow substantially over the next decades. We aim at significantly strengthening our leading global position as the world’s largest ammonia distributor, unlocking the green and blue value chains, and driving the development of clean ammonia globally.

Building on Yara’s leading experience within global ammonia production, logistics and trade, Yara Clean Ammonia works towards capturing growth opportunities in low-emission fuel for shipping and power, carbon-free food pro-duction and ammonia for industrial applications.

Yara Clean Ammonia operates the largest global ammonia network with 12 ships and has access to 18 ammonia terminals and multiple ammonia production and consumption sites across the world, through Yara. Revenues and EBITDA for the last 12 months were USD 3,638 million and USD 172 million respectively as per Q2 2022. Yara Clean Ammonia is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. https://www.yaracleanammonia.com