Japan's Hokkaido Electric Power Secures Funding for Low-Carbon Ammonia Import Hub

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Japan's government agency JOGMEC (Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security) has announced that Hokkaido Electric Power Company (HEPCO) will receive financial support and be "certified" as a supplier in a low-carbon ammonia supply chain extending from Louisiana, United States, to northern Hokkaido, Japan. The low-carbon ammonia in this supply chain comes from two sources: one is the Blue Point project in Louisiana, U.S., based on CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technology, with an annual production capacity of 280,000 tons, supplied by Mitsui & Co.; the other is ACME's renewable hydrogen production plant operating in Odisha, India, whose annual output has not been publicly disclosed.

The primary destination for this low-carbon ammonia is HEPCO's Tomatoh-Atsuma Power Station, which comprises three units with a total generating capacity of 1.65 gigawatts, where the low-carbon ammonia will be used for coal co-firing. Other applications include cement production by Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation and chemical manufacturing feedstock for Tosoh Corporation. At its R&D headquarters in Ube City, southern Japan, Mitsubishi UBE had already completed a commercial-scale demonstration trial in early 2025 in which ammonia replaced 30% of the thermal energy from coal in a cement kiln, a trial it has called the "world's first" use of ammonia as a heat source in cement production.

At the infrastructure level, HEPCO, Mitsui & Co., IHI, and Tomakomai Futo have secured dedicated infrastructure funding (the Hub Development Support Program) to build and operate an ammonia import and supply hub in the Tomakomai area, adjacent to the Tomatoh-Atsuma Power Station. The consortium's business plan was approved by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) in April 2026.