ASX Renewable Energy Stocks: Danish firm unveils plans for hydrogen-ammonia facility in WA's Murchison region

Copenhagen firm submits proposal for huge hydrogen renewables project in WA
Neoen achieves record revenue boost in Q2
Mpower progresses renewable energy portfolio in Q2

Danish investment firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners has submitted a proposal for the Murchison Hydrogen Renewables Project north of Kalbarri, Western Australia where it plans to produce around 2Mt a year of green ammonia.

According to Renew Economy, the project was initially proposed by Hydrogen Renewables Australia back in 2019 but until this week, few details had been revealed other than the proposed site at the Murchison House Station.

The proposed Murchison facility will use Haber-Bosch technology to combine hydrogen with nitrogen and include an air separation unit and nitrogen storage area.

Combined onshore wind and solar energy of around 5.2 GW will be used to produce green hydrogen before the conversion to green ammonia.

The proposal comprises the following major components:

• a wind and solar farm with a combined installed capacity of approximately 5.2 GW
• a Power-to-X (PtX) facility that will use the produced green energy to create approximately 2 Mtpa of green ammonia
• ammonia export facility including pipeline and export vessel mooring and product transfer infrastructure

asx renewable energy stocks — Pic: Murchison Hydrogen Renewables, subsidiary of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners

Neoen sees revenue boost thanks to Australia’s biggest battery

The company behind Australia’s biggest battery (300MW/450MWH) has delivered revenue totalling €109.1 million, up 36% compared to the first quarter of 2021.

Strong growth was recorded in each of the group’s three segments with solar up 31%, wind up 23% and storage increasing by 2.6 times.

Neoen chairman and CEO Xavier Barbaro said with a capacity of 3.5 GW in operation at the end of March, the company generated 1.5 TWh of green electricity in the first quarter.

“This performance was driven by strong revenue growth at all three of our segments in particular to the commissioning of the Victorian Big Battery, one of the world’s largest batteries,” Barbaro said.

“By the end of the quarter, our advanced project portfolio had expanded to more than 16 GW with the addition of over 2 GW in projects recorded as early-stage in 2021.

“Given this portfolio and the unstinting efforts of our teams, we are more confident than ever in our future growth trajectory and are confirming all our targets for 2022 and by 2025.”

Of particular importance, Neoen said storage revenue tripled to €14 million in the first quarter of 2022, which was “largely driven by the contribution from the Victorian Big Battery” after entering operation in December 2021.

“During the quarter, the battery earned revenue under its System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) agreement with the Australian regulator, which provides for the unlock of additional peak capacity on the existing Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector (VNI) during Australian summer,” the company said.

The storage segment was also underpinned by the good performance of the Yllikkälä battery in Finland, Neoen says, which expanded its sales of network services to several markets during the first quarter of 2022 and benefited from favorable market conditions.

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Mpower Group (ASX:MPR)

MPR, a leading renewable energy, battery storage and micro-grid specialist, said it made substantial progress during the quarter establishing its Build Own Operate portfolio of 20 5MW renewable energy projects with an estimated value of +$150mn.

The company focused on advancing green energy financing options for its BOO portfolio and expects more news to flow during the June quarter.

Three separate binding asset purchase agreements were entered into by MPR at Narromine (NSW), Mangalore (VIC) and Faraday (VIC) which are all expected to be shovel-ready at various stages in the first half of CY 2022.

Once shovel-ready status has been achieved and each project is fully permitted, MPR said the completion of the asset purchases will take place.

The Narromine site near Dubbo is in its final stage of development having already achieved an ‘Offer to Connect’ from Essential Energy back in September.

MPR’s Mangalore project advancement also continued during the quarter, including the application for the project to be connected into the National Electricity Market.

The application follows a planning permit being granted by the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning in December 2021.

Around 100km from Melbourne, the Faraday project covers an area of 14ha and was selected due to a strong local demand and attractive future load prospects.

The project includes over 11,000 Bifacial PV Modules with the capacity to produce more than 11,500MWh of electricity in its first year.

And MPR’s landmark 1.5MWh grid connected battery storage project entered its service and maintenance phase during the Quarter following a key milestone of successfully achieving final acceptance with Endeavor Energy.