Maire Tecnimont Group Kicks off Preliminary Work on Renewable Power-to-Fertilizer Plant in Kenya

Italian Maire Tecnimont Group via its subsidiaries MET Development, Stamicarbon and NextChem have started work on the renewable power–to-fertilizer plant in Kenya.

In line with this, MET Development has signed an agreement with Oserian Development Company for the development of the plant at its Oserian Two lakes Industrial Park located on the southern banks of Lake Naivasha, 100 km North of Nairobi.

This plant will support Kenya’s low carbon and inclusive growth, its agricultural output and its smallholder farmers and communities. It will be located near Kenya’s largest geothermal energy basin and will be partly powered by solar energy sources produced on-site – displacing the need for fossil fuels – and eliminating carbon from the production.

Further, the facility is likely to reduce carbon emission with approx 1 lakh tons of CO2 per annum, as compared to a gas-based fertilizer plant.

The company’s Stamicarbon arm will provide both its Stami Green Ammonia Technology to produce ammonia and its Nitric Acid technology as an integrated technology package for the manufacturing of nitrate fertilizer.

Moreover, the project has been targeted to produce 550 mtpd of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN) and/or NPK fertilizers and will be the first commercial-scale nitrate fertilizer plant from renewables. MET Development is currently engaging with local and international partners to set up the development consortium.

Although, the project has started preliminary engineering works and NextChem aimed to start the Front-End Engineering Design by the end of 2021, with a goal to start commercial operation of the plant in 2025.

The project will utilize approx 70 MW of renewable power, and will create the starting point for locally produced Kenyan fertilizer.

Explaining on the project, Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Maire Tecnimont Group, said “with this strategic initiative we aim to unlock the potential of decarbonizing the fertilizer industry using renewable energy as a feedstock. Kenya has a unique potential to provide renewable energy, making it an ideal location for local green power-to-fertilizer production, replacing import of nitrogen fertilizer. With this first very promising initiative we confirm our expertise in project development in green energy, by acting as an end-to-end developer and technological integrator capable of connecting the key factors which are necessary to industrialize the green economy globally.”