Saudi Arabia concludes deals to build world's largest green hydrogen plant

Saudi Arabia’s Neom Green Hydrogen Company has concluded a series of agreements with 23 local, regional and international banks and investment companies, worth $8.4 billion to establish the world’s largest green hydrogen production plant.

The company said, in a statement issued Monday, that the plant, with equal joint venture between Acwa Power, Air Products and Neom, will be built in the city of Oxagon within the NEOM region in the west of the Kingdom.

According to the statement, Air Products will be responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction works, while NEOM has been approved by the American Standard & Poor’s Global credit rating agency, as an “adhering to green loan principles”.

According to the statement, the hydrogen plant will produce up to 4 gigawatts of solar and wind energy which will, in turn, be used to produce up to 600 metric tons per day of carbon-free hydrogen by the end of 2026.

NEOM is Saudi Arabia’s “most ambitious” projects and one of dozens of real estate ventures created to advance social and economic reforms in the Kingdom.

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The Kingdom plans to be the largest source of hydrogen in the world, according to a previous statement by Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.

The technology for large-scale green hydrogen production remains uncertain, but the market is expected to be worth $700 billion annually by 2050, according to Bloomberg estimates.

Riyadh also plans to reach net zero emissions by 2060, by developing carbon capture plants and storage centres.

Riyadh, a leading oil producer and a key member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), believes demand for oil will remain high for decades, and is spending billions of dollars to increase its production crude capacity, but Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, aims to diversify the economy and rely on hydrogen as part of his Vision 2030 strategy.