Located in the Niigata Prefecture at Kashiwazaki City, the facility features a blue hydrogen production plant coupled with a carbon capture system, an ammonia conversion plant, and carbon storage at the depleted Hirai gas field.

The blue hydrogen will be used to generate electricity through the Kashiwazaki hydrogen power plant, which is then sent through the local grid to homes and businesses in the region.

A portion of that hydrogen will be used to fuel the ammonia synthesis unit.

Once the ammonia is produced, INPEX will supply it locally under a “local production for local consumption” model.

As a demonstration project, customers will use the ammonia for testing, such as energy applications, co-firing trials, and other pilot programmes.

Inpex completed commissioning of the plant this year and is scheduled to start up full operations in 2026.

Furthermore, the production processes have been subsidised by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO), as part of its Fuel Ammonia Utilisation and Production Technology.