Chile's Consorcio Austral Submits Environmental Review for $4.7 Billion Green Ammonia Project

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Chilean developer Consorcio Austral has submitted an environmental review application for a $4.7 billion green ammonia and wind energy complex in the country's southernmost region, targeting a daily production of 4,100 metric tons of ammonia, all for export.

According to Renewables Now, the project will utilize dedicated wind power capacity for electrolysis, producing renewable hydrogen through water splitting as a feedstock for synthesizing green ammonia, thereby avoiding the natural gas used in conventional ammonia production. Southern Chile has become a hotspot for such projects due to its strong and consistent Patagonian winds, with high capacity factors helping to improve the economics of continuous ammonia production.

The proposal joins an expanding global pipeline of green ammonia developments aimed at supplying low-carbon fertilizers and marine fuels. Ammonia is the basic feedstock for most nitrogen fertilizers, so export-scale green ammonia capacity could supply importing markets with low-carbon urea and other products, including those facing carbon border taxes. The project is also part of a wave of green ammonia initiatives in Latin America, a region that includes green ammonia plants under development in Brazil.

The project remains in the permitting phase, with the developer yet to announce financing plans, offtake agreements, or a construction timeline.