Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Jan. 26, #595

From tariffs to the recent reconciliation bill, climate tech startups have been grappling with a rapidly changing landscape. Brooklyn-based startup Amogy has managed to avoid turbulence induced by U.S. politics by keeping its sights on more promising foreign markets.

Amogy’s ammonia-to-power tech and its focus on Asian markets, including Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, has helped it land a fresh $23 million in funding. The round, which brings its most recent fundraise to $80 million, increases the company’s valuation to $700 million, co-founder and CEO Seonghoon Woo told TechCrunch. The round was led by the Korea Development Bank and KDB Silicon Valley LLC with participation from BonAngels Venture Partners, JB Investment, and Pathway Investment.

Amogy is based primarily in the U.S. But the startup has found demand for its core technology in Japan and South Korea, countries looking for new ways to expand power generation.

“They don’t have as high quality solar, wind, and geothermal resources, and they are not really in the best position to build a nuclear power either,” Woo said.

Ammonia is most widely used as a component of plant fertilizers; it can also serve as what experts call a hydrogen carrier. Normally, hydrogen is difficult to transport — it’s flammable and prone to leaking — but a hydrogen carrier like ammonia makes it easier.

In an effort to reduce their carbon pollution, Asian countries have started burning ammonia in existing fossil fuel power plants. Typically, operators will replace some percentage of coal with ammonia. 

Shipping companies have started doing the same, replacing diesel with the compound. Ammonia has found fertile ground in that industry because the International Maritime Organization, which regulates maritime shipping, is going to begin levying a carbon tax starting in 2027.

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But in any place where ammonia is burned — whether that’s a power plant or a ocean-going ship — it needs to have at least some fossil fuel combusted alongside it. That makes full decarbonization impossible.

Amogy has been developing a way to fully replace fossil fuels using ammonia as a fuel. First, the company cracks three hydrogen atoms off each nitrogen atom. It then sends the hydrogen to a fuel cell, which generates electricity and water vapor, while releasing pure nitrogen to the air. 

Because there’s no combustion, the company’s process doesn’t release any NOx pollution, which can create smog and cause a host of health problems. 

The startup previously tested its technology in a tug boat, and it’s still on track to deploy a commercial-scale system in a ship by the next couple years. But Amogy is also developing a power plant that will provide power to terrestrial customers, including data centers. The first of its kind will begin generating power in the next couple years, Woo said.

The first systems will be on the smaller side, capable of producing 500 kilowatts to one megawatt of electricity, though customers can deploy several in parallel to generate more power.

Woo said that Amogy’s shift to Japan and South Korea comes at a time when the countries are beginning to develop their ammonia infrastructure. By the end of the decade, coal power plants in both countries are expected to use some amount of ammonia in their operations.

Initially, the ammonia will likely come from the U.S. and the Middle East, where hydrogen bound in inexpensive natural gas is used to make the compound. Asian countries are setting standards for how much carbon pollution can result from ammonia production. As a result, it’s likely that producers will need to capture at least some of the carbon to be able to sell to those markets. 

But down the line, Woo said, the hope is to transition to green sources of hydrogen to create ammonia. Asian countries, Woo said, “see ammonia basically as the next LNG, but without the carbon.”