Ammonia helped feed the modern world and now could it help clean it up?
A new UK project is turning wasted wind power into green ammonia storing energy when the grid cannot use it and releasing it when it matters most.
Ammonia underpins fertilisers plastics fibres dyes and pharmaceuticals and for a century it has relied on fossil fuels.
Green ammonia flips that model using air water and renewable electricity with no direct carbon emissions.
That matters because Britain is wasting clean power. In 2024 around one tenth of all wind generation was produced but not used as the grid struggled to move and store electricity.
Engineers at the Science and Technology Facilities Council have now switched on ASPIRE a prototype plant designed to make ammonia directly from intermittent renewable power.
It stores unused electricity as hydrogen locked inside ammonia molecules which can later be cracked back into hydrogen or used to generate power.
The plant can ramp production up and down depending on wind availability making it a rare example of flexible industrial chemistry built around renewables rather than gas.
Project Lead Tristan Davenne said: “What makes ASPIRE notable is its ability to produce ammonia at variable rates and its readiness for scalability in industry. ASPIRE is not just a technical achievement – it is a practical solution that can transform unused wind energy from a challenge into a valuable resource.”
The implications go well beyond storage.
Green ammonia could decarbonise fertiliser production cut emissions from shipping strengthen grid resilience and supply low carbon hydrogen for fuel. Taken together it could deliver 10-15% of global CO2 reductions.
ASPIRE also slashes emissions compared with today’s methods. It cuts around 90% versus grey ammonia and about 70% compared with blue ammonia while avoiding gas price volatility and carbon penalties.
The project is backed by the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio as the UK pours £1.1 billion into offshore wind to build a zero carbon power system by 2030.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks added: “Technology like this showcases how British innovation can play a role in bringing down energy bills for good.”
With CBAM and hydrogen subsidies closing the cost gap green ammonia is moving from lab curiosity to industrial contender. The chemistry that once powered the fossil economy may yet help dismantle it.
Ammonia project could be game changer appeared first on Energy Live News.