SK ecoplant secures wind power site for green hydrogen project in Canada

4 sites on which the Nujio’qonik project has been approved for use. [Courtesy of SK ecoplant]

SK ecoplant Co., an engineering company under South Korea’s SK Group, has successfully secured a wind power site for its green hydrogen project in Canada.

SK ecoplant said Saturday that World Energy GH2 Inc., a Canadian renewable energy company behind the Nujio’qonik project, has obtained approval from the Canadian provincial government on August 31 for the use of state-owned land for wind power generation.

The Nujio’qonik project is a large-scale commercial green hydrogen project that involves extracting green hydrogen without carbon emissions by using electricity produced from wind power to split water, and converting it into green ammonia, which is transported to other continents, including Europe.

A total of 1,077.91 square kilometer land has been approved for this purpose, which is approximately 1.8 times the entire area of Seoul.

With the latest approval, the Nujio’qonik project has now secured all the wind power sites necessary for expansion up to Phase 3.

The potential wind power generation capacity is up to 4 gigawatts, equivalent to the output of 3 to 4 nuclear power plants.

The acquisition of the Port of Stephenville was completed for the project earlier this year. The port is considered a key asset for the production and transportation of green hydrogen and green ammonia between continents.

SK ecoplant signed an investment agreement with World Energy GH2 in May, acquiring a 20 percent stake in Phase 1 of the Nujio’qonik project.

SK ecoplant is engaged in the supply and installation of solid oxide electrolyzers (SOECs) for green hydrogen production, in addition to its involvement in the front-end engineering design (FEED) of the project.

SK ecoengineering Co., SK ecoplant’s subsidiary, will jointly engage in the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) for the plant to convert green hydrogen into green ammonia. The pre-FEED phase was completed at the end of last month.

In this project, about 1 GW of onshore wind power generation for electricity production and a total of 600 megawatts for green hydrogen production, including SOECs and polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzers, will be constructed in each phase.

When Phase 3 is fully operational, the annual production is projected to reach about 180,000 tons for green hydrogen by 2025 and about 1.08 million tons for green ammonia by 2026.

“As a key player in the commercialization of green hydrogen in the Nujio’qonik project, we will do our utmost to ensure the smooth progress of the project,” said Park Kyung-il, chief executive officer of SK ecoplant.