AM Green has found a customer for its Kakinada plant before it is built. JERA has signed a binding agreement to buy about 70,000 tonnes of green ammonia a year from the Andhra Pradesh facility for five years, with room to extend.
The plant is planned for commissioning by 2028/29. It will run on renewable power available around the clock, backed by pumped-hydro storage, and produce ammonia by splitting water with electricity.
The ammonia is headed for ships, not power plants. It will be received at facilities being built next to JERA’s Hekinan Thermal Power Station in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It will go mainly to a venture to be set up by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, which plans to refuel ammonia-powered car carriers from a dedicated vessel. The companies called it one of the first large-scale projects of its kind in the world.
“This agreement is an important step in advancing a practical end-to-end lower-carbon value chain for Japan, anchored by our power generation business and serving a broader range of industries. Through our group structure, we combine JERA’s power generation and infrastructure platform in Japan with JERA Global Energy Solutions’ global supply capabilities. This allows us to connect diversified sources of ammonia with customer needs in Japan, contributing to Japan’s decarbonization goals.”
Irtiza Sayyed, Senior Managing Executive Officer and JERA Global Energy Solutions CEO, JERA
For JERA, India adds a new source of supply and takes its use of ammonia beyond electricity into shipping fuel. The company said this will help build the infrastructure Japan needs for wider use of ammonia in industry and commerce.
For AM Green, it is one of its first contracts in Asia where it is responsible for getting the fuel all the way to the buyer. The ammonia meets internationally recognised low-carbon standards and is benchmarked against European requirements.
“Our partnership with JERA marks another important milestone in AM Green’s journey to become a leading global supplier of renewable ammonia. This agreement reflects the growing demand for competitively priced green molecules from India and reinforces the strategic role of our Kakinada project in supporting Japan’s and maritime industry’s decarbonisation ambitions. By combining renewable energy, large-scale energy storage and advanced green ammonia production, we are building a reliable and scalable supply platform for international markets. We look forward to working closely with JERA to advance this partnership and contribute to the development of a resilient global green ammonia value chain.”
Mahesh Kolli, Group President and Joint Managing Director, AM Green
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Our analysis
The hardest thing in green fuel is finding someone who will commit to buy before the plant exists. AM Green now has that for Kakinada: a binding five-year contract with a named buyer and a clear end use. That is what makes a project of this kind financeable.
By delivering the fuel to Japan rather than selling it at its own gate, AM Green moves from producer to supplier and takes on more of the chain. The test now is execution. Everything in this contract depends on Kakinada starting up by 2028/29.
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