Acme locks USD-488m loan for green hydrogen project in Oman

India’s Acme Group on Friday said it has secured INR 40 billion (USD 487.9m/EUR 438.4m) in debt financing for the first phase of a large-scale green hydrogen and ammonia production project in Oman’s Duqm Special Economic Zone.

Acme is developing the huge scheme under a 50/50 joint venture with Norwegian renewable power producer Scatec ASA (OSL:SCATC). When it initially unveiled the project in March last year, the duo said that its first phase envisages the installation of 300 MW of electrolysers to produce around 100,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually, powered by 500 MW of solar. Later, the complex will be expanded to reach an annual production of 1.2 million tonnes with about 3.5 GW of electrolysers and 5.5 GWp of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation.

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The loan for the scheme’s first stage was extended by Indian green infrastructure financial services provider REC Ltd (BOM:532955). With these funds in place, financial close of this part of the project has been achieved, Acme said.

Last summer, Norwegian fertiliser company Yara International ASA agreed to buy 100,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year from the Oman complex.

Separately, Acme has sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with REC for an additional INR 210 billion in loans to build 380 MW of renewable power plants, the first phase of two green ammonia projects in Odisha and Tamil Nadu, as well as for a 600-MWh pumped hydro storage project.

(INR 10 = USD 0.122/EUR 0.110)