Green ammonia has huge potential in the global effort to substitute fossil fuels with sustainable alternatives. It has been highlighted as a superior green fuel for international shipping that currently accounts for around 2% of global energy-related CO2 emissions. Already today, ammonia is used as fertilizer globally and the production from fossil fuels accounts for around 1% of global CO2 emissions.

However, the cost of green ammonia is currently significantly higher than that of comparable ammonia from fossil fuels. To improve the business case and increase the attractiveness of green ammonia as a substitute for fossil fuels, dynamic, scalable and cost-optimized solutions are needed. A partnership of Danish industry leaders is currently working on one such landmark solution

Topsoe, Vestas and Skovgaard Invest have come together in the REDDAP-project which aims to realise the potential of green ammonia and prove that clean fuel from renewable energy can be produced at an industrial scale in the very near future.

REDDAP is short for Renewable Dynamic Distributed Ammonia Plant, and such a plant is the envisioned end-product of the project. It will be the first of its kind in the world – a so-called dynamic green ammonia plant at the commercial scale of 10 MW power, which will be located in Western Jutland. Here, renewables will drive the Power-to-x process of producing hydrogen, which will subsequently be processed into ammonia.

The dynamic approach entails that the clean energy from wind turbines and solar panels will be connected directly to the electrolysis unit. This makes it more cost-effective than involving a battery or hydrogen storage. The flexible ammonia plant will be able to operate from 5% to 100% load without hydrogen storage.

Topsoe will design the plant’s dynamic ammonia technology to secure optimal production and adapt to the inherent fluctuations in power output from wind turbines and solar panels. The ammonia plant will interface to a green hydrogen solution developed by Vestas, integrating electrolysis with wind and solar in one smart control system. 12 MW of the renewable energy to power the process will come from six existing V80-2.0 MW Vestas wind turbines and 50 MW will come from new solar panels. In addition, the renewable energy generation will be connected directly to the national grid so surplus power can be sold to the grid.

Recognising the potential of the REDDAP-project The Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP) awarded 81 million. DKK (app. 11 million EUR) to the project in 2021 – the biggest amount ever granted to a project by the EUDP.

The plant is expected to be operational by 2023. When finished, the plant will produce more than 5,000 tonnes of green ammonia from renewable energy annually. This production will prevent 8,200 tons of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere every year.

REDDAP has been specifically designed to provide the necessary know-how and operational experience in order to upscale the dynamic ammonia plant in new projects. As such, it will act as a lighthouse project, which aims deliver proof of concept and experience that can pave the way for larger Power-to-X projects in the future.

The results gained from this project will additionally provide important insights and data for policy makers and for the transmission system operators for the green transition.

In a purely economic perspective, dynamic and distributed ammonia plants can create new markets and demand whilst bolstering demand for existing products including turbines, and ammonia plants. This will subsequently create jobs for the Danish economy.