Fortescue expects initial license for Brazil green hydrogen project by September

Reuters | August 23, 2023 | 

Port of Açu, where Fortescue is developing a green hydrogen plant. Credit: Wikipedia

Australian mining and energy firm Fortescue expects to receive a preliminary license to install a green hydrogen plant in Brazil by September, an executive said, marking an important step forward in a still-fledgling market in Latin America.


Discussions regarding the approval of Fortescue’s preliminary license are scheduled for next month, following the delivery of environmental impact studies, Agustin Pichot, the firm’s Latin America head, said in an interview.

The plant, to be built in a port city in the northeast of the country, has a projected production capacity of 900,000 tons of green ammonia, which is meant to be exported and then converted to hydrogen in consumer countries.

Fortescue already has some early agreements with potential buyers, and is targeting more in Asian countries like Singapore, Japan and South Korea, Pichot said.

(By Leticia Fucuchima and Kylie Madry; Editing by David Evans)