Denmark's GreenGo Energy has unveiled plans for a new green energy project in Africa's Mauritania to host 60 GW hybrid solar and wind energy to produce green hydrogen and ammonia, using a 'unique' circular architecture.
Megaton Moon, as the project is called, will use the African nation's renewable energy potential to generate 190 TWh of hybrid solar and wind generation to power 35 GW electrolysis, which will produce 4 million tons of green hydrogen/year. It can be further processed to generate 18 million tons of green ammonia.
Aimed as one of the world's largest green energy parks, Megaton Moon is proposed to come up in Mauritania's desert region. It targets to implement the 1st pilot stage by 2028, and the last stage by 2033 and 2035. On completion, the project will be visible from space.
GreenGo says it will generate more than 70 million tons of desalinated water/year to facilitate this development, and use over 10 TWh of surplus power to facilitate the development of a large scale, local desert farming industry to establish a new local green supply chain.
The Head of Global Megaton Development, Anders Heine Jensen said, "To ensure that the supply chain is in place the Megaton project will be implemented in three main stages each comprising five to ten building blocks."
Jensen expects a project of this magnitude to attract local production of PV panels, wind turbine blades and electrolysis components for which the company is currently negotiating memorandums of understanding (MoU) with manufacturers.
The developer said that it is eyeing tier I investors in the green energy space to finance the project.
According to the company, it has filed a development application with the Mauritanian Ministry of Petroleum, Energy and Mines, and expects a favorable decision in Q1/2024.
GreenGo is already working on a 4 GW wind and solar power plant in Denmark to produce green fuels. Also called Megaton, GreenGo says the experience from the Danish facility will help it to further the Mauritania project (see GreenGo Energy Planning 4 GW Danish Green Energy Park).
On picking Mauritania for the project, the Danish developer's CEO Karsten Nielsen listed the country's high solar and wind resources, large areas of suitable flat land and coastal proximity for water and shipping. He also added, "Green hydrogen production cost is half of Northern Europe, potentially lower. Furthermore, the region has some of the most operator-friendly fiscal policies on the continent, as documented by a history of significant oil and gas investments by world energy majors. Proximity to load centers in EU is an additional benefit."
CWP Global had previously announced a 30 GW green hydrogen project called AMAN in Mauritania with 18 GW wind and 12 GW solar power capacity. In 2022, it signed a framework agreement for the same (see $40Bn Green Hydrogen Project Moves Forward).