Project Nujio’qonik involves building one of the first commercial-scale green hydrogen / ammonia facilities in Canada.
The project will include the development of onshore wind farms to power the hydrogen / ammonia plant.
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World Energy GH2 (WEGH2), a renewable energy partnership affiliated with green fuel producer World Energy, is building it.
Project Nujio’qonik is planned to be developed in multiple phases. It is expected to entail an investment of around $15bn. Final Investment Decision (FID) is slated for 2025.
Green hydrogen and green ammonia production are expected to start in 2025 and 2026, respectively.
Project Nujio’qonik will produce around 210,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually (1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia), delivering 400,000 tonnes of green ammonia in the first phase.
Project Nujio’qonik Location
Project Nujio’qonik, also referred as Port au Port-Stephenville Wind Power and Hydrogen Generation Project, will be located on the western coast of the Island of Newfoundland.
The first two wind farms will be situated on Crown lands in the Port au Port and Bay St. George South/ Codroy areas, while the hydrogen/ ammonia plant is planned on a privately owned brownfield site at the Port of Stephenville, Stephenville town.
The location is accessible via the Trans-Canada Highway and offers proximity to global commodity markets.
Project Background and Timeline
In May 2022, WEGH2 was formally established as a company focused on sustainability and the transition to renewable energy sources. The shareholders of the entity included CFFI Ventures (24%); Brendan Paddick (24%); GH2 Holdings (24%); Horizon Atlantic Capital (8%); and SK Group: SK ecoplant (10%), and SK engineering (10%).
In June 2023, WEGH2 announced the acquisition of the Port of Stephenville for the construction of the hydrogen plant.
Pre-FEED (front-end engineering design) was completed in July 2023, followed by the submission of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in August 2023.
Around 108,000 ha (~266,000 acres) of Crown lands were also approved in August 2023.
In January 2024, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Amendment for Project Nujio’qonik was submitted.
In April 2024, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador announced that the Project Nujio’qonik met the provincial Environmental Assessment Act requirements and it was green lighted to proceed in accordance with certain conditions.
The project received a $95m credit facility from Export Development Canada, on behalf of the Government of Canada. SK ecoplant has also invested $50m in Project Nujio’qonik.
Project Nujio’qonik Details
According to Project Nujio’qonik Environmental Impact Statement 2023, the hydrogen/ ammonia plant will be equipped with an electrolyser capacity of 1,200MW.
It will use renewable energy from the wind farms to produce green hydrogen via electrolysis.
The hydrogen produced at the facility will then be converted into ammonia for international shipments.
The plant, expected to occupy around 50ha area, would require water require an average of 1,668 cubic metres (m³) of water per hour to feed the hydrogen electrolyser, and for cooling and other requirements.
Water for the project will be procured from the existing industrial water supply at the Port of Stephenville. It would be used for electrolysis following demineralisation treatment.
The plant will commence operations with an initial electrolyser capacity of 600MW, which may be expanded up to 1,800MW in future. At 1,800MW capacity, the project will produce up to approximately 309,000tonnes of green hydrogen (equivalent to approximately 1.75 Mt of
Project Nujio’qonik will use a Haber-Bosch reactor to combine the green hydrogen with nitrogen to produce ammonia.
The project will receive power from two onshore wind farms set to be developed on the western coast of Newfoundland.
Temporarily, gaseous hydrogen will be stored in pressurised vessels, while storage tanks will be used to store liquified ammonia at atmospheric pressure.
The two 1GW wind farms- Port au Port wind farm and the Anguille Mountains- Codroy wind farm will feature up to 164 wind turbines.
A network of 34.5kV transmission lines will interconnect the wind turbines at the wind farm sites to the project-owned transformer substations, while a network of 230-kV high-voltage transmission lines will connect the substations associated with each wind farm to a terminal station at the plant.
A new 230-kV transmission interconnection will be developed to connect the hydrogen / ammonia plant terminal station to the NL Hydro facility at Stephenville.
The hydrogen / ammonia plant and associated storage, and export facilities will be located at the Port of Stephenville.
The privately owned port, which will support year-round operations, will feature deep-water marine facilities to enable ammonia offloading.
A 10,000ft active runway will be located adjacent to the port to support air-to-sea and sea-to-air freight opportunities.
The project will have an operational life of around 30 years.
Project Nujio’qonik: Development Phases
Project Nujio’qonik is planned to be developed in four phases.
The Phase I development plan will include the construction of 1GW onshore Port au Port wind farm and hydrogen and ammonia processing facility in Stephenville.
It would also include the development of the ammonia offloading terminal at the Port of Stephenville and providing the grid connection to the plant.
The first phase will create around 2,200 direct construction jobs, 400 operations jobs, and 4,200 indirect jobs.
The second phase will include building the Anguille Mountains- Codroy wind farm and expanding the hydrogen and ammonia offloading facility in Stephenville.
Phase III will explore an additional 1GW wind farm and further expansion of the hydrogen and ammonia plant.
The final phase will further evaluate wind resource potential in the region, expand the project capacity and determine the feasibility of co-locating manufacturing and production facilities.
Contractors Involved
Denmark’s Haldor Topsoe is delivering the ammonia plant in a standard Haber Bosch design.
Technical advisor Det Norske Veritas (DNV) was engaged to conduct an initial desktop study and analysis of the wind resources at the project wind farm site.
In May 2023, Bloom Energy won a contract to provide its solid oxide electrolysers (SOEC) to the Nujio’qonik project.
TritenIAG supported World Energy GH2 on a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for the green hydrogen and ammonia project.
World Energy GH2 worked with professional consulting services provider Stantec on the Environmental Assessment of the project.
