Neom Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC) - a joint venture between Saudi futuristic city Neom, global utility project developer Acwa Power and industrial gases leader Air Products - said it has secured the industrial operating licence from the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources.
Once completed, NGHC will be the largest at-scale green hydrogen production company in the world based at Oxagon, home to advanced and clean industries within Neom, with a next generation port and fully automated and integrated supply chain and logistics network.
NGHC is a flagship green hydrogen tenant within the wider renewable energy industrial ecosystem, said the statement from Neom.
This step comes as part of Neom's efforts and its ambitious vision to develop innovative sustainable solutions to address key global challenges, the foremost of which is climate change.
With its low-cost hydrocarbon resources and strategic location for low-cost renewable energy sources, Saudi Arabia has set out to catalyze the global hydrogen economy by becoming the world’s leading hydrogen producer, while maintaining its position as a key player in the energy sector as a whole, said the statement.
Leveraging the kingdom’s unique wind and solar profiles, this multi-billion-dollar plant will run on around 4GW of wind and solar energy and produce green hydrogen using 2.2GW electrolysis technology supplied by thyssenkrupp Nucera.
The plant is being constructed by Air Products as EPC contractor and system integrator, it added.
Haldor Topsoe, will provide the technology to produce the green ammonia, with Baker Hughes as the selected technology partner for hydrogen compression. Air Products will also deploy their own air separation technology.
According to Neom, the NGHC plant will start producing green hydrogen from 100% renewable energy sources in 2026, with production of up to 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia annually – a figure equivalent to 600 tonnes of green hydrogen per day.
This green ammonia will be exported to global markets, supporting the decarbonization of the heavy-duty transport sector aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
It is estimated that as a direct impact of the plant, up to 5 million tonnes of CO2 will be saved per year.
Once the plant at Oxagon is operational in 2026, 100% of the green hydrogen produced by NGHC will be available for global export, in the form of green ammonia, through an exclusive long-term off-take agreement with Air Products, it stated.
Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (Modon) signed a memorandum of understanding with Oxagon to cooperate in the implementation of the Future Factories Program.
The initiative aims to build a strong technology ecosystem enabling a sustainable digital transformation of the manufacturing sector in the kingdom by remodeling 4,000 existing factories. In line with Saudi Vision 2030, the goal of the program is to achieve the objectives of National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP).