Further to the May 2022 60 MW Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed with Administración Nacional de Electricidad (ANDE), the Paraguayan National Power Company, following the Company’s December 2021 IPO, the PPA has by agreement with ANDE now doubled in capacity to 120 MW of available 24/7 baseload 100 percent renewable power for its Villeta Project. This is the largest PPA ever signed between ANDE and an industrial user and will enable the facility to produce up to 100,000 MT of green ammonia per year. Villeta, with first production within 30 months from now, will be the largest announced green hydrogen and ammonia project in Latin America.
The Company has also announced the appointment of internationally recognised engineering firms as Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contractors for the project, specifically ammonia company Casale working with Urbas Energy-Ingeser and TSK. The consortium will complete their study by early Q2 2023 with Final Investment Decision (FID) to follow thereafter.
As the world population has reached 8 billion people, the demand for fertiliser keeps increasing and driven by this and increased industrial demand, the current global ammonia market of 178 million tonnes is expected to grow nearly 40 percent by 2050. With exponential need to reduce carbon emissions, the demand for green ammonia, currently a small part of ammonia produced, is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 72 percent between 2023 and 2032.
Atome remains on track to commence full production in the first part of 2025 with the available renewable power meaning that Atome has no need to build its own power generative capability thereby saving material time and resources and in turn placing Atome at the forefront in terms of production and trading of green hydrogen and ammonia in Latin America.
In planning the project, the company will use established and well proven production technologies, including alkaline electrolysers, to mitigate operational risks, costs, and delays, with such technology being chosen for the Villeta Project inter alia for consistency and reliability against yet proven technologies at scale.
The Villeta Project is the first phase of the Company’s total planned 420 MW pipeline in Paraguay.
“We are grateful for the confidence that ANDE is showing in Atome by increasing our power supply to 120MW, enabling Paraguay to become the leader on the continent in the fast-growing green hydrogen economy” said Olivier Mussat, CEO at Atome. “The enlarged 120MW project with its early date to commence full production will benefit from significant economies of scale, making our production of green ammonia even more attractive in the global markets looking to source green energy and green fertilisers.”
For additional information:
