Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest has outlined ambitious plans to build a renewable energy business, aiming to compete with oil giants to provide low-cost green energy globally.
The billionaire owner of Fortescue Metals Group – the world’s fourth-biggest iron ore miner – says Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) has signed preliminary deals in countries like Papua New Guinea, as well as in African countries, and a team of executives is looking for other partners.
“We are building a portfolio of renewable assets, energy producing assets around the world,” Forrest, Fortescue’s chairman, told the company’s annual meeting via video link from Paraguay, according to a Reuters report.
He adds that Fortescue has already committed £550 million out to 2023 for the project and expects to use off-balance sheet financing for it as well.
“With scale and innovation, we will be able to ramp up supply of green hydrogen and green ammonia to deliver low cost energy reliably at industrial scale to customers all over the world,” he states, explaining that hydrogen and ammonia fuel cells are set to be used in transport and shipping, ammonia in fertiliser and hydrogen also in steel making.
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