Jordan’s plans to become a major green hydrogen producer received their biggest vote of confidence to date in mid-November, as four international and local investors provisionally agreed to develop a combined 1.5mt/yr of green ammonia capacity.

The breakthrough comes as attention starts to focus on the kingdom’s plentiful solar resources, its potential as a green fertiliser producer, and the export and bunkering opportunities provided by the expanding Aqaba deepwater port on the Red Sea.

Jordan’s regionally anomalous fossil fuel poverty, and the enormous fiscal cost of relying on imports for more than 90% of supplies, prompted an early and substantial adoption of renewables—which accounted for 27% of the power mix by the end of 2022.

Such was the speed of the clean power buildout that  a moratorium was placed on the development of renewables projects of more than 1MW in 2019 to allow transmission and storage infrastructure to catch up.

27% – Share of renewables in power generation

Swathes of sparsely populated desert land furnish solar resources well beyond what is needed to satisfy domestic electricity consumption for the foreseeable future. The kingdom also offers, by regional standards, a relatively welcoming climate for foreign investment and domestic political stability. Aqaba, near where prospective hydrogen facilities would be built, lies far from the sensitive border with the Occupied Territories—limiting the immediate impact of the Israel-Hamas war.

The first international investor to openly take note of the kingdom’s green hydrogen potential was Australia’s Fortescue Future Industries. It signed a framework agreement in November 2021 with the government allocating initial land for renewables and downstream hydrogen and/or ammonia production facilities, with a view to progressing towards an investment agreement should the conclusion be positive. The ability to attract heavyweight investor interest was confirmed a year later when Danish shipping giant Maersk signed an agreement with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to conduct technical and economic feasibility studies in the kingdom into the production of green methanol for use as a marine fuel.

Activity has intensified over the past two months. In mid-October, the ministry finalised a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the joint venture of Polish clean energy firm Hynfra and Emirati chemicals company Fidelity Group, called Jordan Green Ammonia, to conduct a 12-month study into the construction of a 100,000–200,000t/yr green ammonia plant in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone. The project would be powered by a 530MW of greenfield PV solar array.

The UAE could potentially assume a wider role in its ally’s hydrogen plans: the two states, alongside Egypt, signed an industrial partnership agreement in mid-2022 to support mutual growth, to which end Abu Dhabi created a $10b fund. Later that year, Abu Dhabi government-owned Masdar signed a MOU to develop up to 2GW of renewables in the kingdom

The standout agreement among the latest four MOUs was one with a team of French/Irish Amarenco and Swiss-based H2 Global Energy covering the potential development of a 1mt/yr green ammonia plant, based on 4.5GW of renewables, at an estimated cost of €9b ($9.78b).

Water constraints

Less detail has emerged on the other, smaller projects proposed. Kawar Energy and Philadelphia Solar Energy Company—both local—and Germany’s Enertrag, agreed to conduct studies on ammonia plants with capacities of 100,000t/yr, 100,000–200,000t/yr and 200,000t/yr respectively. All are assumed to envision locations near Aqaba. Jordan’s weak spot as a potential hydrogen producer is its acute water scarcity thus the electrolyser feedstock water would have to come from building desalination plants along the kingdom’s short Red Sea coastline.

Several further MOUs are due to be signed during the COP28 climate talks, when the long-term strategy—drawn-up with the assistance of USAID—is also likely to be unveiled. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Saleh Kharabsheh revealed in October that Amman was targeting 500,000–600,000t/yr of green hydrogen production by 2030.

The bulk of the hydrogen and its derivatives would be exported, exploiting Aqaba’s position on key trade routes and proximity to the Suez Canal—helping ease a chronic account deficit. However, there is also considerable potential for its use to decarbonise domestic industries, notably fertilisers. Jordan has the world’s seventh-largest reserves of potash.

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Author: Clare Dunkley