Under the first phase, the company said the facility will produce 100,000 tonnes of ammonia per annum, which it expects to commence in 2025.

Once fully developed, Avina hope the plant will play a key role in seeing the US become an exporter of green ammonia to international markets, including Europe and Asia. In its second phase, the plant is anticipated to have capacity to produce 700,000 tonnes of ammonia per year.

The US was highlighted as a region that looks set to act as a key exporter of hydrogen by 2050, by the Hydrogen Council in its Global Hydrogen Flows report, which predicted that North America is likely to produce more hydrogen than it consumes.

Read more: Regional hydrogen supply and demand mismatch will force global trade links by 2050, report predicts

The plant comes as part of the company’s wider plans to invest $1bn in green ammonia and hydrogen plants by 2025, and says it has an additional of 1.5GW of renewable energy assets that can be converted into green hydrogen projects.

“This is a significant milestone for our green ammonia facility that has been under development for more than 18 months now,” said Vishal Shah, founder and CEO of Avina Clean Hydrogen.

Shah added, “Once operational, we expect this facility to be one of the largest, state-of-the art renewable power enabled green ammonia production facilities in the US and one of the most cost competitive green ammonia facilities around the world.

“With abundant renewable energy resources and best-in-class maritime infrastructure, the Texas Gulf Coast region is an ideal location for this production facility.”