Nova Clean Energy has bought the HyFuels portfolio in Calhoun County, Texas, from BNB Renewable Energy: 400 MW of solar, 400 MW of wind and a 200 MW green ammonia project on about 25,000 acres. No price was disclosed. The announcement promised power in 2026. The project records Enerdatics holds for the same assets point somewhere else entirely.
Key takeaways
- Nova Clean Energy announced on 16 April 2024 that it had acquired the HyFuels portfolio in Calhoun County, Texas, from BNB Renewable Energy, with the deal value not disclosed.
- The HyFuels portfolio comprises the 400 MW HyFuels Green Lake solar project, the 400 MW HyFuels Green Lake wind project and a 200 MW green ammonia development project, on a footprint of about 25,000 acres in the ERCOT market.
- Both the HyFuels Green Lake solar and wind projects are planned with co-located battery storage, and the portfolio splits its power generation equally between wind and solar.
- Nova Clean Energy has signed a long-term development services agreement with BNB Renewable Energy covering environmental surveys and grid connection planning for the HyFuels portfolio.
- Leap's project records estimate investment of $550 million for the 400 MW HyFuels Green Lake wind project and $150 million for the 400 MW solar project, with financial close in 2027 and commercial operation in 2029 for both.
How is the HyFuels hub meant to work?
The design is a closed loop. Wind and solar on the same site generate electricity, batteries smooth it, and the ammonia plant turns it into a product that can be stored and shipped. Green ammonia is ammonia made with hydrogen from electrolysis powered by renewable electricity, rather than from natural gas. It is used as fertiliser feedstock, as an industrial chemical and, increasingly, as a way to carry hydrogen.
The pairing of wind and solar is deliberate. The announcement says the combination of the two ensures a consistent and reliable local energy supply, and the portfolio splits generation equally between them. On the Texas Gulf Coast, wind and sun tend to peak at different times, so two technologies of equal size give an electrolyser more running hours than either would alone. Electrolysers are expensive, and the more hours they run, the cheaper each tonne of output becomes. The co-located batteries on both projects serve the same purpose.
The same logic explains the size figure. The portfolio is usually described as 1 GW. Leap records 800 MW of generation, because the 200 MW ammonia project consumes power rather than producing it.
What did Nova actually buy, and what did it not?
Nova bought the projects. It did not buy BNB out of the work. Alongside the acquisition, Nova signed a long-term agreement with BNB for development services, covering environmental surveys and grid connection planning. The seller stays on as the developer's contractor for the parts of the job that decide whether a project can be built and connected.
That structure suits both sides. Nova, which has almost two decades of experience developing wind and solar in the United States and Mexico, takes ownership and the upside. BNB keeps a role, and a fee stream, in the stage it knows best. Leap tags the deal as a late-stage asset purchase of projects still under development, which fits a portfolio where environmental surveys and grid connection planning are still to be done.
Why do the dates not line up?
Because the announcement and the project records describe different plans. At the time of the deal, the summary said the initial phase was set to reach full notice to proceed, the formal go-ahead to start construction, in 2025, and to begin commercial operations in 2026. Leap's project records for the same assets now carry later dates: financial close in January 2027 for the solar project and March 2027 for the wind project, with commercial operation in January and March 2029.
A gap of three years between an announcement and later project records is not unusual for a hub that depends on a new ammonia plant, a grid connection in ERCOT and buyers for its output. It is still worth knowing. Anyone using the 2026 date from the original announcement would be planning around a timeline that the more recent records no longer support.
The investment estimates in those records tell a similar story about where the money sits. Leap puts the wind project at $550 million, or about $1.38 million per MW, and the solar project at $150 million, or about $0.38 million per MW. On those figures the wind half of the hub carries close to four fifths of the estimated generation spend, before any cost for the ammonia plant, for which no estimate is recorded.
Enerdatics records 44 renewable energy M&A transactions in Texas announced in 2024, and HyFuels is the only one tagged as a multi-technology portfolio. Of the 44, eight wind deals carry a median of about $1.03 million per MW across five priced transactions, and seventeen solar deals a median of about $0.43 million per MW across six. None of the four Texas hydrogen deals that year carries a disclosed value. Across the United States in 2023 and 2024, Enerdatics records 32 hydrogen M&A transactions, and only six disclose a value.
What does the deal signal for green ammonia in Texas?
It shows developers building the power supply first and treating the molecule as the second step. HyFuels is a renewable generation portfolio with an ammonia project attached, and the generation can stand on its own if the ammonia plant takes longer. The ammonia project is recorded as early stage while the wind and solar are late stage, which makes that sequencing explicit.
It also fits a pattern visible in Leap's hydrogen records: plans are announced in large round numbers and priced rarely. Elsewhere, Smartenergy's eAmmonia plan in Egypt pairs 2.6 GW of wind and solar with ammonia output, while in Houston a 1.25 MW green hydrogen plant is starting much smaller. Investors such as ENEOS have taken stakes in Gulf Coast hydrogen and ammonia developers to test whether the economics work. HyFuels sits between those extremes, and its later project dates are a reminder that in this segment the announcement date and the operating date are often far apart.
Frequently asked questions
What is in Nova Clean Energy's HyFuels portfolio? A 400 MW solar project, a 400 MW wind project, both with co-located battery storage, and a 200 MW green ammonia development project in Calhoun County, Texas.
How much did Nova pay for HyFuels? The deal value has not been disclosed.
When will the HyFuels projects start operating? The April 2024 announcement targeted commercial operations in 2026. Leap's project records now show commercial operation in January 2029 for the solar project and March 2029 for the wind project.
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