This wind-powered green ammonia plant could be a gateway to buffering Minnesota farmers from volatile fertilizer prices 

In the shadow of a wind turbine on a low rise just outside the western Minnesota town of Morris, a cluster of tanks, pipes and sheds holds what some believe is the key to a more self-sufficient future for the region’s agriculture and heavy industry.

When the wind is blowing – and it often is, out here – the turbine powers two electrolyzers that cleave hydrogen from water, another system that separates nitrogen out of the air and a third that binds the two elements to form anhydrous ammonia, a critical input for corn farming. The University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center commissioned the plant earlier this spring and can produce hundreds of kilograms of homegrown ammonia daily.

As a stable, efficient carrier of hydrogen, the homegrown ammonia could eventually supply raw material for other types of fertilizers, transportation fue...