FMO accelerates green hydrogen deployment and sustainable agriculture in Paraguay through USD 94.8 million investment in ATOME’s Villeta Green Fertilizer Project

FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, announced a senior secured loan of up to USD 94.8 million to support ATOME Paraguay SAE in financing the Villeta Green Fertilizer Project, one of the world's first industrial scale facilities to produce green nitrogen fertilizers using green hydrogen made from 100% renewable electricity. This landmark project strengthens Paraguay's position in the emerging global green hydrogen economy and supports the decarbonization of agricultural value chains across the Mercosur region.

With a total project cost of USD 664.4 mln, the Villeta facility will produce approximately 260,000 metric tons of green calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) annually, replacing emissions-intensive grey fertilizer production with a fully renewable pathway. The project is enabled by Paraguay's abundant hydropower resources, which supply reliable and low-cost baseload electricity, allowing Villeta to operate with a cost-competitive green fertilizer in a grey-fertilizer dominated market. Access to stable and competitively priced green baseload power significantly strengthens the project's long-term viability. Cost competitiveness is further enhanced through the project's Free Trade Zone status, stable electricity tariffs, access to local dolomite supply, and its strategic position at the center of Mercosur's fertilizer consumption corridor.

The FMO loan forms part of a broader financing package with IDB Invest, the European Investment Bank (EIB), IFC, and the Green Climate Fund, enabling one of the first globally significant green hydrogen-to-fertilizer projects to advance to full financing and construction in an emerging market.

A new benchmark for green industrial production in emerging markets

Villeta stands out for its fully integrated design, which combines green hydrogen production, green ammonia synthesis, and CAN fertilizer manufacturing on a single site. The facility will operate entirely on green electricity from the Paraguayan grid under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement with ANDE, ensuring a highly predictable input cost base and a stable operational profile.

The project's commercial foundations are reinforced by a long-term take-or-pay offtake agreement with Yara International, one of the world's largest global fertilizer companies, a rare structure in the global green hydrogen sector which significantly reduces market risk during the project's operating years.

Furthermore, Villeta is expected to contribute to the resilience of regional food systems by supplying sustainably produced fertilizer to one of the largest agricultural markets in the world. Brazil and Argentina together account for substantial global fertilizer imports, and the project's location within Mercosur offers a logistical and cost advantage over imported fossil fuel-based products.

A model for climate-aligned development and green competitiveness

The Villeta Green Fertilizer Project introduces a scalable model for deploying green hydrogen technologies in emerging markets, demonstrating how renewable resources can be converted into cost-competitive industrial products. Its combination of stable green baseload power, a long-term industrial offtake contract, a strong consortium of international shareholders, and a conservative project finance structure makes it an important reference point for future green hydrogen projects seeking bankability at scale.

Marnix Monsfort, Director Energy at FMO, said: "FMO is proud to support the Villeta project, which is a breakthrough project that demonstrates the feasibility of largescale green hydrogen solutions in emerging markets. This project also marks the concretization of our ambitions in the green hydrogen sector, a strategy we began developing three years ago. Its combination of competitive renewable power, strong industrial partners, and long-term market certainty creates a blueprint for climate-aligned industrial development. We look forward to jointly pioneering this next stage of sustainable fertilizer production in Paraguay, and further developing the green hydrogen sector in Paraguay and beyond."

Olivier Mussat, CEO at ATOME PLC, said: "We greatly value FMO's support for this landmark project, which ATOME has pioneered from the ground up. Our Villeta plant enables industrial-scale fertiliser production free from fossil fuel dependence - a critical advance for global food security and the long-term profitability of agricultural supply chains. Together with the financial coalition we have built, FMO's backing proves that green fertiliser is not just environmentally essential, but a compelling and sustainable business opportunity."

By introducing green hydrogen into a traditionally fossil-intensive value chain, Villeta supports global decarbonization efforts and aligns with FMO's strategy to accelerate the renewable energy transition. FMO's investment will help lower the emissions footprint of agricultural production across the region while creating skilled local employment in engineering, operations, and project management.

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About ATOME

ATOME PLC is an AIM-listed company and a leading developer of dedicated low-carbon fertiliser projects with a material pipeline of projects across South and Central America. ATOME's flagship Villeta Project is located in Paraguay - the heart of the Mercosur region's agricultural and food production markets - and aims to disrupt the region's heavy dependence on imported fossil fuel-based fertiliser, contributing to regional food security goals and supplying the agricultural sector with efficient and sustainable products. ATOME has now created its ATOME POWER division which is in the early stages of developing a significant renewable power generation and battery infrastructure business.