Spotlight: Brazil’s green hydrogen investments

FRV, part of the Jameel Energy group, has signed a pre-contract with the government of Brazil's Ceará state to produce green hydrogen at the Pecém industrial and port complex (CIPP).

Called H2 Cumbuco, the project consists of producing green ammonia for export, with a focus on the European and Asian markets. 

The company estimates that it will make an investment of approximately 27bn reais (US$5bn), as well create around 1,500 jobs during construction and more than 200 during operation. These figures correspond to phases 1 and 2 of the project, which will have an installed capacity of 2GW.

This is one of the more than 60 agreements calling for the production of so-called low carbon hydrogen that have been signed in Brazil (see the update published at the end of this article).

The undertakings will mostly be energized by PV solar and wind (including offshore) plants. 

While the national congress is discussing a regulatory framework for the hydrogen market, most of these projects are still in the study phase and only a few have had investment amounts announced. 

Here, BNamericas lists other companies (besides FRV) that have outlined capex projections for green hydrogen projects in Brazil:

CEARÁ STATE 

– Casa dos Ventos: US$7bn

– Fortescue Future Industries: US$6bn

– Enegix Energy: US$5.4bn

– Qair Brasil: US$3.95bn 

– Grupo Jepri: 3.3bn euros 

– Voltalia: US$3bn  

– Transhydrogen Alliance: US$ 2bn

– Cactus Energia US$2bn

– AES Brasil (recently purchased by Auren Energia): US$2bn

– GoVerde: US$600mn

– Engie: US$300mn

PERNAMBUCO STATE

– Qair Brasil: 20bn reais

– CTG Brasil (innovation hub): 45mn reais

PIAUÍ STATE

– Green Energy Park: 200bn reais

BAHIA STATE

– Unigel: US$1.5bn

ADVANCED INITIATIVES 

In 2022, White Martins became the first company in South America to produce internationally certified green hydrogen on an industrial scale at its plant in Pernambuco.

The company plans to start operating a new green hydrogen plant in Jacareí, São Paulo, in 2025 to serve glass manufacturer Cebrace as part of its emissions reduction program.

In January 2023, EDP inaugurated a green hydrogen production plant in Ceará as part of the Pecém H2V research and development project, which involves an investment of 42mn reais.

At the end of last year, Eletrobras’ renewable hydrogen plant at the Itumbiara hydroelectric power station, on the border between the states of Minas Gerais and Goiás, obtained Brazil's first renewable hydrogen certification from the local power trading chamber CCEE.

Atlas Agro plans is negotiating the contracting of the engineering works for a nitrogen fertilizer factory in Minas Gerais state. The plant, to be built in Uberaba at a cost of around 4.3bn reais (US$850mn), will consume 2.5GWh of renewable energy annually. In an integrated industrial operation, the unit will produce green hydrogen, ammonia and ammonium nitrate. 

Meanwhile, Casa dos Ventos is moving ahead with its hydrogen and green ammonia production project at CIPP. The company has signed an MOU with Utilitas, a water and wastewater treatment company, with the aim of obtaining a supply of reuse water for the project. 

The project will be divided into phases and will have a final capacity of up to 2.4GW of electrolysis, producing 1030t/d of hydrogen, which will enable the production of 2Mt (million tons) of ammonia per year. 

The document signed with Utilitas provides for the contracting of a flow of up to 1,500m3/h of raw reuse water, enough to feed the first phase of production. 

Also in Ceará, the Transhydrogen Alliance plans to begin in 2024 the construction of its hydrogen plant at CIPP, whose operations are scheduled for 2026. 

The estimate is to produce 2.2Mt/y (million tons) of green ammonia per year) and export it through the Port of Pecém to the Port of Rotterdam. 

Green hydrogen agreements signed in Brazil

Company	State
Enegix Energy	Ceará
White Martins/Linde	Ceará
Qair	Ceará
Fortescue Future Industries	Ceará
Eneva	Ceará
Diferencial	Ceará
Hytron	Ceará
H2helium	Ceará
Neoenergia	Ceará
Engie	Ceará
Transhydrogen Alliance	Ceará
Total Eren	Ceará
AES Brasil	Ceará
Cactus Energia Verde	Ceará
Casa dos Ventos	Ceará
H2 Green Power	Ceará
Comerc Eficiência	Ceará
Enel Green Power	Ceará
HDF	Ceará
Mitsui	Ceará
ABB	Ceará
Gold Wind	Ceará
Alupar	Ceará
Mingyang Smart Energy	Ceará
SPIC	Ceará
Gansu Science & Technology Investment	Ceará
PowerChina	Ceará
Platform Zero (Pecém + 13 institutions from five countries)	Ceará
Green Hydrogen Corridor (Complexo do Pecém, AES Brasil, Casa dos Ventos, Comerc Eficiência, Havenbedrijf Rotterdam, Fortescue and EDP)	Ceará
Voltalia	Ceará
Lightsource bp	Ceará
EDF Renewables Brasil	Ceará
GoVerde	Ceará
Hitachi Energy Brasil	Ceará
Grupo Jepri	Ceará
bp	Ceará
Voltalia	Bahia
Aker Horizons, Statkraft and Sowitec	Bahia
Equinor	Rio de Janeiro
Comerc	Rio de Janeiro
SPIC	Rio de Janeiro
White Martins/Linde	Rio de Janeiro
Eletrobras	Rio de Janeiro
Neoenergia	Pernambuco
CTG Brasil	Pernambuco
Galp Energia	Pernambuco
Nexway/ Casa dos Ventos	Pernambuco
TotalEnergies	Pernambuco
Fortescue Future Industries	Pernambuco
Qair/ Copergás	Pernambuco
Brid Logística	Pernambuco
Mitsui	Pernambuco
Elecnor/Enerfín	Rio Grande do Sul
Neoenergia	Rio Grande do Sul
CPFL Energia	Rio Grande do Sul
CMPC	Rio Grande do Sul
Equinor	Rio Grande do Sul
Ocean Winds	Rio Grande do Sul
White Martins/Linde	Rio Grande do Sul
Green EN.IT	Rio Grande do Sul
Ventos do Atlântico Energia Eólica	Rio Grande do Sul
Voltalia	Rio Grande do Norte
Nordex H2 SL	Rio Grande do Norte
FEV Europe GMBG	Piauí
Green Energy Park	Piauí
Toyo Setal Empreendimentos	Piauí
Solar Outdoor Media	Piauí
Shizen	Piauí

Source: BNamericas based on public and market data