Power2Earth to produce fossil-free mineral fertilizer

Luleå The Spanish group Fertiberia, together with the Swedish agricultural cooperative Lantmännen and the Swedish company Nordion Energi, is planning to build a mineral fertilizer factory in Luleå. The factory will be supplied with fossil-free hydrogen from the Letsi hydropower plant in Jokkmokk municipality, through a 150-kilometer pipeline.

The project, previously known as Green Wolverine and now called Power2Earth, involves an investment of €2 billion.

As with the plans for fossil-free iron and steel, the production of hydrogen is part of the fertilizer production. And thus a great need for fossil-free electricity. Up to 5 TWh of electricity are needed, which is the same order of magnitude as the first phase of the Hybrit project at LKAB in Gällivare.

The original plans involved hydrogen production in Boden and a pipeline from there to the fertilizer plant in the Luleå Industrial Park, a distance of 40 kilometres. But the industrial investments in Luleå and Boden mean that competition for electricity and access to the electricity grid is high in the Luleå region. Fertiberia will not get the allocation of electrical power it needs.

Therefore, Fertiberia has changed its plans and now intends to place the hydrogen production near the hydroelectric power plant in Letsi and from there lead the hydrogen in a 150 km long pipeline to Luleå. The idea is to bury the hydrogen pipeline underground. However, the company has not received permission from Svenska Kraftnät to connect to the grid at Letsi power station.

"Power2Earth is the first step on the Nordic Hydrogen Route, a 1000-kilometer-long underground hydrogen pipeline connecting Sweden and Finland. Hydrogen is central to Norrbotten's long-term diversification of the industrial sector, and through the Power2Earth project, we illustrate how the new hydrogen infrastructure is cost-effective, delivers energy security, and reduces carbon dioxide emissions," says Hans Kreisel, CEO of Nordion Energi, a Swedish company working with biogas and hydrogen infrastructure.

The fertilizer project requires three environmental permits: for fertilizer and ammonia production in Luleå, hydrogen production in Letsi and the gas pipeline in between. The schedule is to make investment decisions for the plants by the end of 2025 and start production by the end of 2028.

The planned fossil-free mineral fertilizer plant is expected to reduce CO2 emissions from Swedish agriculture by 25%. It will also increase the country's food security and preparedness. Sweden currently has no domestic mineral fertilizer production.

Lennart Håkansson

editor@northswedenbusiness.com