Green light for green ammonia in Central America and Caribbean

New joint venture will promote green fertilizer projects, furthering the area’s growing sustainability agenda

The renewable energy arm of Costa Rica-based Grupo Purdy S.A, Cavendish, has entered into a sustainability-focused alliance with ATOME to create a new, equally owned entity: the National Ammonia Corporation S.A (NAC).

Headquartered in San Jose, the joint venture will take advantage of a local mandate to develop myriad projects across Central America and the Caribbean.

It will initially focus on Costa Rica as the country has a strong agriculture sector and, as such, one of the highest fertilizer consumption rates per hectare across the globe.

By making the process greener, then, the alliance has the potential to dramatically reduce Costa Rica’s agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. “We are excited as to the potential of NAC,” said Olivier Mussat, CEO of ATOME.

“The establishment of NAC shows the clear intent of ATOME to deploy its innovative business model and know-how in other geographies. 

“With the Villeta Project in Paraguay, we have taken a significant industry lead that we are able to roll out and replicate under the right conditions. 

“Our partnership with Cavendish, a company established by the founders and owners of Grupo Purdy, offers ATOME a very attractive opportunity with a strong local partner to accelerate the development of a pipeline of international scale projects with strong local demand for green fertilizers.” 

Similarly, Silvio Heimann, CEO at Cavendish, added: “We are energized to join efforts with ATOME to deliver innovative solutions to the domestic and regional markets, as this combination of international expertise provided by ATOME´s team fits perfectly well with our ability to execute locally.”