Smartenergy has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Egypt to study an eAmmonia plant. The plan calls for 2.6 GW of wind and solar, a 1 GW electrolysis plant and 830,000 tons of ammonia a year. No price, no investor and no date for a final decision have been announced. What has been announced is a set of numbers large enough to be worth checking against each other.
Key takeaways
- Smartenergy announced on 29 February 2024 that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Egypt to develop an eAmmonia production project, beginning with feasibility and engineering studies.
- The Smartenergy eAmmonia project in Egypt involves 2.6 GW of wind and solar capacity powering a 1 GW electrolysis plant designed to produce 150,000 tons of green hydrogen a year.
- The Smartenergy plant would convert its hydrogen into 830,000 tons of eAmmonia a year, primarily for fertiliser production and as a green fuel for shipping, serving both local offtake and exports.
- Leap classifies the Smartenergy eAmmonia plant as an early-stage onshore project in northern Egypt, with no disclosed investment figure or operational date.
- Enerdatics records nine green hydrogen partnership deals in Egypt announced between January 2022 and February 2024, all structured as joint ventures or memoranda with no disclosed deal value.
How does 2.6 GW of power become 830,000 tons of ammonia?
Through two conversions, each with its own ratio. First, wind and solar farms supply electricity to electrolysers, which split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Second, that hydrogen is combined with nitrogen from the air to make ammonia, a compound that is easier to store and ship than hydrogen itself.
eAmmonia is ammonia made with hydrogen from renewable electricity rather than from natural gas. Smartenergy's figures imply about 5.5 tons of ammonia for every ton of hydrogen: 150,000 tons in, 830,000 tons out.
The first conversion is where the design choices show. Smartenergy plans 2.6 MW of renewable capacity for every 1 MW of electrolyser. Wind and solar do not run at full output all the time, so a developer that wants its electrolysers busy builds more generation than electrolysis. The ratio tells you how hard the plant intends to run its most expensive equipment.
How does Smartenergy's design compare with its Egyptian neighbour?
It is about four times larger and less ambitious per megawatt. On the same day, 29 February 2024, SK Ecoplant and China State Construction Engineering signed their own green hydrogen agreement in Egypt, for a 250 MW electrolyser powered by 778 MW of wind and solar.
Set side by side, the two plans diverge on output per unit of electrolysis. Smartenergy targets 150 tons of hydrogen a year for each megawatt of electrolyser. SK Ecoplant targets 200 tons, a third more, and its plan includes Bloom Energy's solid oxide electrolysers, a technology that runs at high temperature. The records do not say how much of the gap that explains. Smartenergy has not named its electrolyser technology, so its lower figure may reflect a more conservative assumption rather than a weaker design.
The renewable ratios are close: 2.6 for Smartenergy and about 3.1 for SK Ecoplant. Both developers are planning to oversize generation to keep their electrolysers running, and neither has published the investment figure for its renewable fleet separately from the hydrogen plant.
Why sign a memorandum rather than an investment agreement?
Because feasibility comes first. The memorandum commits Smartenergy and the Egyptian government to studies, not to construction. Leap's project record notes that feasibility and engineering studies began in February 2024 and that Smartenergy has engaged local developers and partners to strengthen ties in the country.
That structure is the norm in Egyptian green hydrogen, not an exception. A memorandum gives a developer a recognised position with the state without committing capital before offtake is secured. For a project of this size, offtake is the decisive question. Fertiliser and shipping fuel are both markets where green ammonia must compete with ammonia made from natural gas.
Enerdatics' data shows how early the whole Egyptian pipeline remains. Leap records nine green hydrogen deals in Egypt from January 2022 to February 2024, every one structured as a joint venture or partnership. None carries a disclosed value. Only two state a capacity: Globeleq's 9 GW partnership and Masdar's 4 GW co-development agreement. Smartenergy's 1 GW electrolyser sits between those headline plans and the smaller industrial projects, such as North Abu Qir's partnership with China Energy Engineering.
What does the deal signal for Egypt's hydrogen ambitions?
It signals that Egypt is still collecting candidates rather than choosing winners. Two separate developers signed hydrogen agreements on the same day, both targeting ammonia, both relying on large new wind and solar fleets. The state is lining up a portfolio of options and letting feasibility work sort them.
It also signals what the market is not yet doing, which is pricing anything. Without a single disclosed value across nine deals, there is no way to benchmark what a position in an Egyptian hydrogen project is worth. The same is true of comparable early-stage studies elsewhere, such as the Tomakomai electrolysis study in Japan, where no money has yet changed hands. The first Egyptian project to reach a final investment decision will set the reference point for every other partner on the list.
Large hydrogen hubs elsewhere show how long that path can be. In Australia, BP took control of the Australian Renewable Energy Hub by buying out Macquarie, less than two years after first buying in, and still without a disclosed price. Egyptian partnerships signed as memoranda in 2022 and 2024 face the same sequence: studies, then partners, then a price.
For Smartenergy, the next milestones are the ones the memorandum names: completed feasibility and engineering studies. Until those arrive, the 2.6 GW and 830,000 tons describe a design, not a commitment.
Frequently asked questions
What has Smartenergy agreed with the Government of Egypt? Smartenergy signed a memorandum of understanding on 29 February 2024 to carry out feasibility and engineering studies for an eAmmonia production plant in Egypt. No investment value has been disclosed.
How much hydrogen and ammonia would the Smartenergy plant produce? The plan targets 150,000 tons of green hydrogen a year from a 1 GW electrolysis plant, converted into 830,000 tons of eAmmonia a year for fertiliser and maritime fuel.
How much renewable power does the Smartenergy project need? The project includes 2.6 GW of wind and solar capacity to power the electrolysis process, about 2.6 MW of generation for every megawatt of electrolyser.
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