Australia-based hydrogen specialist Enegix Energy is planning to build a green hydrogen plant on 500 hectares of commercial land in the Port of Pecém, in the Brazilian, northeastern state of Ceará.
The company said that a memorandum of understanding for the ‘Base One' project was signed in mid-February with the state governor Camilo Santana and that the planned facility should generate over 600 million kilograms of green hydrogen per year. “Enegix’s planned next-generation facility will be run completely using renewable energy, with zero emissions, and will harness the great renewable energy potential that Ceará has available, with solar and onshore and offshore wind to be realized, allowing Base One to be expanded to over 100 GW to meet global demand,” the Australian company said in a statement.
The US$5.4 billion plant is expected to be powered by around 3.4 GW of combined wind and solar capacity, which Enegix Energy said has already been contracted with Brazilian renewable energy company Enerwind. The chosen location is claimed to have direct access to all major international markets via ocean freight. “Our partnership with the Ceará state government is a major milestone for the company. Base One will turn Ceará into a major hydrogen export location and establish Enegix as a global renewable power producer aligning with our vision and strategy to replace expensive, high-emission power grids with renewable, baseload, and cost-effective zero-carbon grids,” Enegix Energy CEO Wesley Cooke stated.
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The company has recently hired an unnamed international engineering firm for the feasibility study on the project and is currently seeking investors through an open capital round. The hydrogen plant construction may require up to four years.
The Brazilian state of Ceará is currently seeing strong development of unsubsidized PV projects linked to power purchase agreements. The region has very favorable climatic conditions for solar power projects.
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The site is not far from the port in Maranhao state from which mining giant Vale ships hundreds of millions of tonnes of iron ore. Vale must be thinking about getting into the green iron business with hydrogen DRI, following its smaller Swedish competitor LKAB.