Fortescue's US$3.6bn Brazil green hydrogen project moves forward

Brazil’s national council for tax free zones (CZPE) has approved Fortescue's project to install a green hydrogen plant in the Pecém port complex in northeast state Ceará. 

The decision comes less than two weeks after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sanctioned the low carbon hydrogen development and investment program (PHBC).

The pre-contract signed for the project foresees investments of 20bn reais (US$3.6bn) for the construction of one of the largest green hydrogen plants in the world, Fortescue said in a release. The industry's expectations revolve around the regulation and certification of the law so that investments can be unlocked. 

The progress of Fortescue's project in Pecém still depends on a final investment decision, which should be put to the company's board next year.

The project aims to produce around 500t/d of green hydrogen from the electrolysis of water, using 1.2GW of renewable energy. As well as generating clean energy, the hydrogen produced can be used in transport and in the manufacture of other green products, developing cross-cutting areas of the value chain with the sustainable production of fertilizers, steel and e-fuels, according to the release. 

The company recently received the installation license from Ceará environmental authority Semace to begin site preparation and expects to announce shortly the date for the start of work, which should begin by the end of the year.

According to the national confederation of industry (CNI), more than 60 hydrogen projects from renewable sources have been announced in Brazil, amounting to US$36.6bn in investments.

 

Project	Capex (US$ millions)	State
Qair – Porto de Pecém	6,950	Ceará
Port of Pecém – Base One	5,400	Ceará
Fortescue Future Industries – Port of Pecém	5,000	Ceará
Casa dos Ventos and Comerc	4,000	Piauí
Marítimo Dragão – Qair	3,800	Pernambuco
Porto do Açu Fortescue ammonia project	3,200	Rio de Janeiro
Industrial complex to produce green hydrogen and ammonia – Alto dos Ventos	2,519	Rio Grande do Norte
Transhydrogen Alliance	2,000	Ceará
Ingenostrum – Total Eren	1,500	Ceará
Unigel, phase III	960	Bahia
GoVerde	581	Ceará
Unigel, phase II	420	Bahia
Unigel, phase I	120	Bahia
Centro do Hidrogênio Verde – CH2V	39	Minas Gerais
Unipar expansion	19	São Paulo
CEI Energética and Porto Central	19	Espírito Santo
Hidrogen from bioethanol, phase 1	10	São Paulo
Furnas	10	Minas Gerais
Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional	9	Minas Gerais
EDP Pecém pilot	8	Ceará
Missão Estratégica Balbina Green Connection	2	Amazonas

Source: CNI