Hy24’s Clean Hydrogen Investment Fund could commit up to $115m to finance Atome’s 145MW green hydrogen-based fertiliser project in Villeta, Paraguay.
The investment fund inked a non-binding heads of terms with Atome, which would see it become the project’s lead equity partner as the development targets a final investment decision (FID) by the end of H1 2025.
Under the deal, Hy24 could commit between $100m and $115m to the Villeta project. Additionally, before taking FID, if Atome reaches “pre-defined milestones” Hy24 will advance up to $5m of the proposed equity.
Atome and Hy24 intend to sign the definitive agreements in Q2. However, Atome must sign a binding offtake agreement and EPC contract and finalise lending agreements. It is also dependent on Hy24 concluding its own due diligence.
The investment would support the development of a facility producing green hydrogen via 145MW of electrolysis powered by hydropower, which will be converted into green calcium ammonium nitrate fertiliser.
Last July, Atome signed a non-binding offtake agreement with Yara for all 246,000 tonnes per year of the project’s output. Now, the company says it expects to sign a definitive agreement with Yara by early Q2.
“We welcome Hy24…as an anchor equity investor and are excited to bring the project to full financial close in the first half of this year,” said Olivier Mussat, Atome CEO.
“This demonstrates the substantial value in Atome’s business model of developing shovel-ready projects that combine market offtake and strong financial returns with significant development impact, backed by our proven management expertise.”
Marking Hy24’s first South American project investment, the fund’s co-founder and CEO, Pierre-Etienne Franc, said Villeta was one of the region’s “most advanced” green fertiliser initiatives.
With €2bn ($2.09bn) of hydrogen project allocations, Hy24 is jointly owned by Ardian and FiveT Hydrogen. It has received investment from LOTTE Chemical, Airbus, Snam, Enagás, and others.
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