Uniper to negotiate green ammonia offtake from India’s Kakinada

February 7, 2023, by Aida Čučuk

German-based energy company Uniper and Greenko ZeroC Private Limited, a subsidiary of India’s Greenko Group, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Heads of Terms for Uniper to enter into exclusive negotiations for the offtake of green ammonia from Phase 1 of Greenko ZeroC’s ammonia production facility in Kakinada.

Under the MoU, Greenko and Uniper intend to negotiate innovative pricing, supply, and tenure structure for a supply and purchase agreement for 250,000 tonnes per annum of green ammonia based on the Heads of Terms.

Greenko’s Kakinada project is a multi-phase green ammonia production and export facility, adding up to 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of green ammonia production capacity by 2027.

The first phase of Greenko’s facility produces green ammonia based on an electrolyser powered by Round the Clock (RTC) renewable electricity produced by 2.5 GW of renewable assets in India and reinforced by their Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Storage Plant (IRESP).

According to Uniper, the key differentiator that sets this project apart is the integration of a pumped storage plant to balance out the intermittent and seasonality of renewable production and achieve a high annual plant load factor upwards of 85 %, allowing for flexible and dispatchable supply of green ammonia competitively.

Aside from green ammonia, Uniper said that the two parties intend to collaborate on the deployment of similar flexible renewable electricity to other hydrogen products such as e-methanol and sustainable aviation fuels.

Anil Chalmalasetty, CEO, Founder, and Managing Director of Greenko, stated: “Greenko is working towards decarbonisation solutions for a low-carbon economy. We are partnering with a world-class technology partner in John Cockerill and will jointly develop large-scale green molecule projects in India.”

“We are extremely delighted to partner with Uniper through this offtake agreement for our project which will eventually displace LNG imports and strengthen India’s green molecule ambitions as part of a wider renewable energy programme that will see India run the world’s largest energy transition programme.”

Niek den Hollander, CCO of Uniper, said: “Decarbonisation is one of the major challenges of our time and needs quick action, therefore, we at Uniper are happy to contribute to the acceleration of the energy transition with our partner Greenko. The Greenko Kakinada project is a very promising opportunity to source green ammonia and secure the supply of low-carbon hydrogen products for Germany. We are very excited about the cooperation!”

John Roper, CEO, Middle East at Uniper, noted: “Greenko has been one of the most agile players in the green molecule market in this region. With Uniper as the offtake partner for green ammonia, the partnership will benefit from the additional value added through Uniper’s global commodity trading and logistics network. We look forward to advancing this transaction with Greenko.”

In December, Uniper partnered with compatriot public seaports operator Niedersachsen Ports (NPorts) and green hydrogen provider Tree Energy Solutions (TES) for a new large joint import terminal for green gases in Wilhelmshaven.