Amp Finalises Commercial Agreements for Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct

ADELAIDE, Australia, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Amp Energy ("Amp" or the "Company") announced today it has finalised all required commercial agreements for the development of the Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct – one of the leading green hydrogen, green ammonia and advanced fuel projects in Australia. The agreements, which were executed with Iron Road Ltd, include the purchase of a 630-hectare parcel of land at Cape Hardy as well as finalised royalty structure and common user infrastructure agreement. Amp will continue to build upon development progress made since announcing the Strategic Framework Agreement with Iron Road Ltd in April 2023 to bring advanced fuel production capacity to Cape Hardy.

The Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct will provide production at scale with up to 10 GW of planned electrolyser capacity. Development will be structured to initially bring 1 GW online with incremental stages to reach 10 GW of total capacity.   The project will both cater to the domestic Australian market, supporting the Australian Government's net zero goals, while also featuring global export capabilities.  To facilitate distribution, Cape Hardy will be equipped with Australia's first purpose-built advanced fuels export terminal.   

Amp has been in discussions to develop the Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels precinct, in collaboration with Iron Road Ltd and The Government of South Australia, for the past two years. During that time, Amp has made significant development progress.  The project's concept, design, and pre-Front End Engineering Design (FEED) phase have been studied and reviewed by two leading global engineering firms, Arup and Technip Technologies, as Amp targets completion of pre-FEED studies for the first 1 GW electrolyser phase over the next 9 months. FEED scoping and contracting is currently underway ahead of awarding the FEED contract in late 2024 or early 2025.

Desalinated water is to be sourced from the recently announced Northern Water Supply (NWS) seawater desalination plant that will be located at Cape Hardy to meet the project's demand for electrolyser feed water, cooling water, process plant water, and fire water. Amp is co-funding pre-FID expenditures for the NWS project.

Additionally, Amp is working closely with the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC ("BDAC").  With continued support from the BDAC, Amp is confident the Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct will have a meaningful economic impact on the region.  Amp currently estimates this will include approximately 4,000 direct and 6,000 indirect jobs for the first gigawatt of electrolyser capacity alone.

"We are seeing growing demand for Advanced Fuels both in Australia and abroad. This includes green ammonia, liquid hydrogen, methanol, and sustainable aviation fuel. The Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct will allow for large-scale production of these fuels that will be critical to the energy transition and achieving net zero targets. We could not be more excited about the project's potential impact, and we are grateful for the partnership and continued support from Iron Road Ltd, the South Australian Government and BDAC as we progress full steam ahead on development" said Paul Ezekiel, Amp President and Co-founder.

Minister for Trade and Investment, Joe Szakacs said "The State Government recognises the strategic importance of the Cape Hardy Advanced Fuels Precinct attracting investment into the state for domestic and export opportunities, as there is an increasing flight to quality for hydrogen projects worldwide."

Amp Energy is a global energy transition development platform, which delivers renewables, battery storage, Advanced Fuels and green AI data centers at scale, together with proprietary AI-enabled grid flexibility through its Amp X platform. Since its inception 15 years ago, Amp has developed and built or contracted 14 GW of assets globally. Amp is backed by major investments from institutional capital partners including global private equity firm the Carlyle Group, who has invested over US$440 million. The company has global operations throughout North America, the UK, Australia, Japan, and Spain.

For more information, please visit amp.energy