Singapore-based LNG Alliance's green arm Carbon Governance plans to build a green hydrogen plant in Indonesia, expecting an "exponential" increase in demand from neighbouring countries in the next few decades.
Construction of the 11,000 t/yr solar-powered plant in Bintan is expected to start in the second half of 2024 and finish in 2026. The firm plans to increase the plant's capacity from 11,000 t/yr to 21,900 t/yr within two years of achieving first production, and to 42,000 t/yr in the next five years.
The plant will use high-efficiency bi-facial solar panels which are expected to produce sufficient and reliable power to run electrolysers. The firm is leaning towards using proton exchange membrane electrolysers for the plant and will determine a suitable technology provider in the second quarter of 2023, LNG Alliance managing director Muthu Chezhian told Argus on 9 November.
Carbon Governance will export the green hydrogen to neighbouring countries, where demand is expected to increase exponentially in the next few decades. The project will focus on Singapore as its primary market.
Singapore provides immediate market opportunities for green hydrogen within southeast Asia because of its commitment and effort towards its net zero emission goal, Chezhian said.
Singapore on 25 October brought forward its net zero target to 2050 and is eyeing the development of low-carbon hydrogen as a major decarbonisation pathway to achieve this.
Other Asian countries such as Indonesia have also set similar goals as they move away from coal and other high-carbon fuels, but Chezhian expects to see more demand for LNG for the next 20-30 years in the transition to net zero. But higher demand for LNG, coupled with a current short supply of it, will cause a lot of price volatility in the market until 2026, he said.
LNG Alliance is developing a 7.8mn t/yr Amigo LNG export terminal near the port of Guaymas on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The firm will build two trains with a 3.6mn t/yr capacity each. Production is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2026, Chezhian said.
