Potential of green ammonia production in India

The threat of climate change is forcing the world to decarbonize all economic sectors. Ammonia primarily used for fertilizer production and a potential, ‘hydrogen carrier’ currently accounts for ~27% of global hydrogen consumption and ~1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In this analysis, we assess the techno-economic potential of ammonia production using onshore wind, open-field photovoltaic and batteries for both domestic usage and export scenarios in India, which is currently one of the world's largest producer and importer of ammonia. Our results reveal that India's potential can comfortably satisfy global ammonia demand with lowest ammonia costs of 723 EUR/tNH3 and 765 EUR/tNH3 for the domestic and export scenario, respectively. To compete with conventional ammonia production a carbon tax of 224–335 €/tCO2 would be required. Finally, costs of shipping liquid hydrogen and the ‘hydrogen carrier’ ammonia are similar here giving other economic, environmental and safety factors higher relevance.