A senior executive has announced that this year will see the production of the first green hydrogen in Saudi Arabia’s megacity, Neom.
At a conference held in Dubai last week, Wesam Alghamdi, the CEO of Neom Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC), announced that the Hydrogen Innovation Development Centre will begin producing eight tonnes of green hydrogen per day when it opens this year.
By the end of 2026, the NGHC hopes to increase daily production of the fuel to 600 tones by building on this knowledge.
HIDC will function as a research and development center and have a single 20-megawatt hydrogen electrolyser unit. The water and power subsidiary Enowa of Neom is working together to build the center.
Electrolysis is the process of splitting water with an electric current to produce hydrogen and oxygen.
“HIDC will allow us to gather data from the electrolyser, develop the technology further, improve operations, and it will be used as a training facility,” Alghamdi said.
According to industry experts, the cost of producing hydrogen is primarily determined by the electrolyser.
In order to maximize energy efficiency during hydrogen production and conversion and to show the possibilities of upscaling technology both nationally and internationally, the researchers will examine the complete hydrogen production chain.
At Neom’s industrial city of Oxagon in the Tabuk province of Saudi Arabia, Acwa Power and the US energy company Air Products are working together to establish the green hydrogen program.
The project is expected to grow into the biggest green hydrogen generating facility in the world.
In May of last year, the plan came to a financial closure of $8.4 billion, with $6.1 billion coming from 23 domestic, regional, and foreign banks and financial institutions.
NGHC was granted its first industrial operating license by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources in Saudi Arabia in January 2023.
According to Alghamdi, the green hydrogen generated at Neom will be transformed into 1.2 million tonnes of ammonia annually, which will then be transported via a jetty that is now being built.
A 30-year off-take deal covering all of the green ammonia produced at the facility has been inked by NGHC and Air Products.
The project will generate four gigawatts (GW) of electricity using solar and wind sources.The solar farm will have roughly 80 square kilometers of solar panels and is located one hour east of the green hydrogen production facility.
There is a wind farm with 257 turbines two hours north of Oxagon.
“Both sites combined will provide power for 2.2GW of electrolyser,” Alghamdi said, adding that the project will also save five million tonnes of carbon.
Source Neom
