Burrup green hydrogen and ammonia Yuri Project gets the nod

The Burrup will be home to one of Australia’s biggest renewable hydrogen plants after the positive final investment decision was made for the Yuri Project.

The YURI Green Ammonia Project at the Yara Pilbara site is a venture between Yara and ENGIE to construct and operate a renewable hydrogen plant to deliver green ammonia.

The positive final investment decision was announced on September 16 with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Burrup.

The Yuri Project will include a 10-megawatt electrolyser, 18-megawatts of solar photovoltaics and an 8-megawatt battery storage system, and once completed the project will be capable of producing up to 640 tonnes of green hydrogen each year.

Yuri Operations Pty Ltd will build the renewable hydrogen facility and supply the green hydrogen to Yara Clean Ammonia.

Yara Clean Ammonia president Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand said the processing plant would be one of the first established operational facilities in the world to receive and use green hydrogen molecules to produce clean ammonia.

Yara Pilbara general manager Laurent Trost said Project Yuri was an exciting and transformational project for the company’s processing operations in the Pilbara which comprise the ammonia plant and a technical ammonium nitrate facility.

“Yuri is a key step in the decarbonisation of our operations which already supply markets in Asia and Australia,” he said.

The project has recieved a $47.5 million grant through ARENA’s Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round as well as a $2 million grant from the State Government’s Renewable Hydrogen Fund.

Hydrogen Industry Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the final investment decision from ENGIE and Yara Pilbara Fertilisers on the Yuri Project was an important milestone for WA’s growing renewable hydrogen industry.

“Yara Pilbara Fertilisers is a world-scale facility, and the project will demonstrate WA’s ability to produce renewable hydrogen on an industrial scale,” she said.

“The Yuri Project is a real example of how renewable hydrogen can be harnessed to reduce the emissions of carbon intensive sectors, and across global economies.”

Construction of the Yuri plant will begin next month and is due to be completed by early 2024.

Environment Minister Reece Whitby on August 5 approved Yara Pilbara’s Yuri project subject to conditions including contributing funds to the Pilbara Environmental Offsets Fund, and submitting an environmental performance report to the Minister and the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation every five years.