<article><p class="lead">Trinidad and Tobago is drafting green hydrogen policies to transition its gas-based industries to the emerging fuel, starting with ammonia, the energy ministry told <i>Argus</i>.</p><p>In one $300mn project, BP and Shell will produce 130MW from two solar farms to run an electrolyzer that would produce 27,200 t/yr of green hydrogen by 2024, the ministry said.</p><p>Trinidad's state-owned utility NEC and state-owned natural gas firm NGC have concluded agreements with local energy consultancy Kenesjay Green subsidiary NewGen to manage the green ammonia project. Kenesjay Green has not responded to a request from <i>Argus</i> for project details.</p><p>"This will be one of the biggest green hydrogen ventures globally," the ministry said. "It will provide the basis for a move away from our use of natural gas.</p><p>"We see this leading to increased production of green hydrogen to produce green ammonia, and later for use in other aspects of the country's energy."</p><p>Trinidad's planned shift to hydrogen coincides with years of gas supply curtailments to petrochemical, fertilizer and LNG plants owing to a shortfall in production.</p><p>Ammonia exports from Point Lisas reached a monthly high for 2021 of 368,000t in June, while January-June exports were down by around 16pc at 1.8mn t on the year, driven by outages and gas curtailments. Gas supply shortages took one of Nutrien's four ammonia units off line and Koch's facility was running at lower rates.</p><p>Trinidad joins a regional push to develop hydrogen, with Brazil and Chile leading the way. Colombia also issued a draft roadmap for the new fuel last week.</p><p class="bylines">By Canute James</p></article>
