meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Neom Green Hydrogen mulls next phase

23 November 2023

 

Neom Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC) received the first set of wind turbines for one of the two renewable energy plants that will power its integrated green hydrogen and ammonia production facility in early October.

The initial panels for the project’s solar power plant and hydrogen storage tanks are expected to arrive soon. The first air separation units, meanwhile, will be delivered in the first quarter of 2024.

“We are on track to meet our 2026 target commercial operation date, with the first ammonia production expected sometime between mid to late summer of 2026,” David Edmondson, CEO of NGHC (pictured), tells MEED.

Announced in the summer of 2020, the region’s first, and probably the world’s largest, green hydrogen and ammonia production facility reached financial close in May this year. The project required a final investment of $8.4bn.

“The decision to develop the project was made in 2019 in the strong belief that there would be a market for green hydrogen,” explains Edmondson.

“Having Air Products was certainly a major factor in that decision because of their hydrogen knowledge and experience. They already have an existing infrastructure for the production and distribution of hydrogen, including for mobility.”  

The US-headquartered industrial gases firm, Saudi utility developer and investor Acwa Power and Public Investment Fund-backed Neom equally own NGHC.

The scale of the integrated project is unprecedented. It will require over 4GW of wind and solar power and 400MW of battery energy storage systems. A 190-kilometre electricity transmission grid will link these to a 2GW electrolysis plant in Neom’s Oxagon industrial city.

The plant will produce up to 600 tonnes of hydrogen daily, which will be converted into roughly 1.2 million tonnes of ammonia a year. Air Products will ship the ammonia to Europe to be cracked back to hydrogen for mobility applications.

Despite some pushback on the business model's efficiency and the feasibility of green hydrogen applications in transport and mobility, Edmondson assures MEED that years of due diligence and compliance with EU carbon intensity policies support the business case. Twenty-three banks are financing the project, he points out.

“The NGHC plant is designed to ensure that the carbon intensity of the end product will be beneath the required threshold in Europe,” he says.

Edmondson acknowledges the premium costs currently involved in a low-carbon-intensity supply chain. However, this is expected to change as companies implement their net-zero commitments and suppliers scale their production to meet rising demand.

Air Products’ key role

In addition to being the exclusive offtaker for over 30 years for the green ammonia produced at the plant, Air Products is also the project’s main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.

The firm’s triple role as an equity investor, EPC contractor and offtaker ensures that “we keep the focus on lowest cost of green hydrogen or ammonia”, notes Edmondson.

“Despite being the EPC contractor and a major investor in NGHC, Air Products’ primary objective is to generate revenue out of selling the ammonia that they have agreed to offtake from NGHC, not through the EPC contract,” he adds.

Phase two

With construction well under way for the integrated Neom green hydrogen and ammonia project, NGHC and its shareholders are now looking at a potential second phase.

“The Neom green hydrogen project is not expected to be a single investment,” says Edmondson.

“With all the ammonia to be produced at the plant under construction already sold to Air Products, there remains an interest in looking at additional investments for both the export market as well as the local market requirements for green hydrogen.”

Neom, which aims to be carbon-free and 100 per cent powered by renewable energy, is considering alternative fuels such as green hydrogen to achieve that goal.

Potential applications include mobility, given the plan to develop a rail system and other modes of transport for Neom.

“There was no domestic demand for green hydrogen fuel when the project was originally conceived in 2019. The market is continuing to evolve and we now see a stronger business case for local supply of green hydrogen,” says Edmondson.

The next phase is envisaged to be another large-scale project addressing domestic and international demand for green hydrogen and green ammonia.

Edmondson says more serious discussions about the project’s next phase will be on the agenda in 2024.

Ongoing innovation

The groundwork for the more widespread adoption of green hydrogen in Neom and across Saudi Arabia is under way.

In 2024, Neom’s energy and water subsidiary Enowa will open the Hydrogen and Innovation Development Centre (HIDC), which aims to produce and adopt decarbonised and clean synthetic fuels in partnership with Saudi Aramco. 

Initially, the NGHC project at the HIDC will gather operational data from the facility’s first 20MW electrolyser from Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Nucera, which will be used at the NGHC plant.

This will help advance Enowa’s plans with Air Products Qudra to test advanced hydrogen fuel cell-based mobility and logistics solutions at Neom. 

Neom factor

As a trailblazing project, Edmondson recognises the many opportunities that Neom has provided.

“We have had excellent support from Neom on both our land and permitting requirements as we have developed the project,” he says.

“We have also benefitted from legislation that allowed the first private grid in the kingdom and were granted the first industrial licence in Saudi Arabia for a green hydrogen plant.

“Neom has certainly risen to the challenge of supporting investors to make the project a reality.”

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/11317662/main2557.jpg
Jennifer Aguinaldo

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Kuwait awards $381m oil project

    23 September 2026

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has awarded an oil project contract worth KD117m ($381m) to India’s Megha Engineering & Infrastructure (Meil).

    The Supreme Purchasing Committee for Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) approved the contract last month, paving the way for the official award.

    The project focuses on a water separation unit at the Al-Rawdatain facility in Kuwait.

    The water separation facility will be developed at Gathering Centre 25 (GC-25), along with a pumping facility at GC-30.

    The project will deliver a wide-ranging upgrade of processing and utility infrastructure, including new low-pressure separation and gas-handling equipment such as a three-phase wet separator package, a gas knock-out drum and associated low-pressure gas pipelines, as well as a high-integrity pressure protection system and a high-pressure flare.

    Meil will develop the new three-phase low-pressure wet separation facility at GC-25.

    The main process equipment will include two wet separator packages, each with a capacity of 150,000 barrels of liquid a day, and a low-pressure gas knock-out drum with a capacity of 53 million standard cubic feet a day, together with associated gas-handling facilities.

    The facility will also incorporate an effluent water treatment and transfer system, including an effluent water balance tank equipped with microbubble flotation and induced gas flotation systems, as well as transfer pumps.

    Additional GC-25 facilities will include fuel gas treatment, chemical injection, oil recovery and flare connections, along with firewater and deluge systems.

    The scope also covers control and safety systems, substations, and associated civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works.

    At GC-30, the project will focus on treated-water filtration and high-pressure injection infrastructure.

    The scope includes nutshell filters and associated feed pumps with a combined capacity of approximately 500,000 barrels of water a day.

    Booster and injection pumps will transfer treated effluent water to designated injection wells.

    Additional facilities at GC-30 will include fuel gas treatment, sludge collection and disposal systems, oil recovery systems, control and safety systems, substations, laboratory and workshop facilities, and associated civil, structural, piping, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works.

    The project also includes transfer pipelines connecting GC-25, GC-15 and GC-30.

    Meil will carry out modifications to existing tanks at GC-30, as well as process and utility tie-ins, electrical and instrumentation modifications and other infrastructure required to integrate the new facilities with KOC’s existing assets.

    Meil’s responsibilities cover the project lifecycle from design and engineering through procurement, construction, testing, pre-commissioning, commissioning, start-up and performance testing.

    The contract also includes operation, maintenance, repair and insurance responsibilities for the designated facilities during the applicable operations and maintenance period.

    Seven companies submitted bids for the project last November.

    The full list of bids was:

    • Meil (India) – KD117m ($381m)
    • Mechanical Engineering & Contracting Company (Kuwait) – KD130m
    • Spetco (Kuwait) – KD158m
    • Al-Kharafi (Kuwait) – KD164m
    • China Oil HBP Science & Technology (China) – KD169m
    • Alghanim International (Kuwait) – KD169m
    • Jereh Oil & Gas Engineering (China) – KD191m

    In October last year, KOC awarded Meil a separate contract for a project to develop a gas sweetening and recovery facility in west Kuwait.

    Meil submitted the lowest bid for that tender, at KD69.2m ($225.5m), in February 2025.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19911322/main.jpg
    Wil Crisp
  • Kuwait refinery project on track for year-end completion

    23 September 2026

     

    A $65m project to replace a substation at the Mina Al-Ahmadi (MAA) refinery is on schedule to be mechanically complete before the end of the year, according to industry sources.

    The project is being executed by India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which was awarded the contract in October 2024.

    One source said: “This project is approaching completion and is currently on schedule to be completed before the end of the year, although it could still see delays related to the ongoing regional conflict.”

    The client is state-owned downstream operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC).

    Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water & Renewable Energy (MEW) is also involved in the project and will provide final approvals and sign-off.

    The scope of the project includes:

    • Construction of a substation
    • Installation of transformers
    • Installation of medium-voltage switchgear
    • Installation of low-voltage auxiliary systems
    • Installation of network protection systems
    • Installation of disconnecting switches
    • Installation of surge arrestors
    • Installation of feeder breakers and cubicles
    • Installation of low-voltage A/C and D/C equipment
    • Installation of battery banks and battery chargers
    • Installation of related relay and control panel boards
    • Installation of fire alarm and fire protection equipment
    • Installation of a SCADA system
    • Installation of cables
    • Civil works
    • Associated facilities

    The current project to replace a substation at the MAA refinery closely resembles another project tendered by KNPC more than a decade ago, which L&T also won.

    On 18 May 2015, KNPC signed a contract with L&T to build a new 240MW substation at the MAA refinery, valued at KD21.866m.

    The new substation, known as M20, was designed to replace an existing substation that was considered old and obsolete.

    Mohammed Al-Mutairi, who was KNPC’s chief executive at the time, said the substation building would be explosion-proof and use state-of-the-art control systems.

    He said the station’s capacity would increase from 180MW to 240MW, supplying most of the refinery’s electricity needs.

    Given the similarities between the two projects, L&T has been able to reuse some designs, creating efficiencies, according to industry sources.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19911319/main.jpg
    Wil Crisp
  • Contractor wins $208m Almoosa hospital MEP contract

    23 September 2026

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Riyadh-based construction firm BEC Arabia has won a SR781m ($208m) contract for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works at Almoosa Hospital in Al-Khobar.

    Saudi Arabia’s Almoosa Health Company awarded the contract.

    The hospital complex consists of two towers: a 24-storey in-patient tower with 380 beds, and an 11-storey tower with 224 clinics and 113 additional treatment spaces.

    It will be built on a 45,000-square-metre site.

    A podium spanning the ninth and 10th floors will connect the two towers.

    The hospital will also include parking for 1,700 cars.

    BEC Arabia won the SR656m ($175m) main construction contract for the hospital in November last year.

    In August 2025, MEED reported that Almoosa Health Company had announced it had secured a sharia-compliant credit facility worth SR650m ($173m) from Banque Saudi Fransi.

    In a statement published on the Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul), the company said the seven-year facility would be used to support its expansion and growth strategy.

    Lebanon’s Dar, US-based Perkins&Will and French design firm Pierre-Yves Rochon designed the project.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19910889/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal
  • UAE to develop integrated waste-to-resource pilot

    23 September 2026

    Emirates Biotech and United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) have launched a pilot project in Al-Ain that could provide a model for larger waste-to-resource facilities.

    The project involves developing the UAE’s first integrated organic-waste valorisation pilot plant, which will test whether food waste and compostable packaging can be processed together to recover resources and reduce waste sent to landfill.

    Located near the UAEU campus, the 40kg-a-day facility will process organic waste to produce renewable biogas and nutrient-rich compost. The project is intended to generate technical and operating data that could support the development of larger-scale facilities.

    Emirates Biotech and UAEU will design, build and operate the pilot plant as part of a two-year research project running from August 2026 to August 2028. Installation and commissioning are expected to be completed by August 2027.

    The plant will combine anaerobic digestion and composting. Anaerobic digestion will convert the organic waste into renewable biogas, while the resulting digestate will be composted to produce nutrient-rich compost.

    A laboratory-scale assessment will also examine the potential to convert the biogas into renewable hydrogen.

    Food waste accounts for nearly 40% of daily municipal solid waste in the UAE, according to Emirates Biotech, and much of it is currently disposed of in landfills.

    The pilot will therefore assess the technical and operational feasibility of recovering value from two waste streams through a single integrated process.

    If successfully scaled, Emirates Biotech says an integrated organic-waste valorisation plant could reduce CO₂ emissions by 89% compared with landfilling.

    The project is expected to provide a scalable and modular model for converting food waste and compostable packaging into renewable biogas and compost, with the findings intended to inform the development of larger waste-to-resource facilities.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19908972/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Contractors prepare Oxagon Highway 55 bids

    23 September 2026

     

    Contractors are preparing to submit bids on 28 September for a design-and-build contract for permanent upgrade works on Highway 55 in the kingdom’s Oxagon region.

    The first phase of the project includes constructing 14 kilometres of road, with two lanes in each direction. It also includes one bridge and three interchanges.

    The project duration is 22 months.

    Highway 55 connects the Red Sea coast with the mainland in northwestern Saudi Arabia. It is currently the only road providing north-south connectivity between Duba and the Neom region.

    MEED reported exclusively in August 2025 that contractors had submitted responses to an expression of interest notice that Neom had issued earlier that month.

    The project is expected to support cargo movement from Duba Port to other parts of the kingdom and the wider region.

    Last year, Neom tested a pilot initiative by handling a shipment that travelled from Cairo via the Port of Safaga, across the Red Sea to the Port of Neom, and then inland to Erbil, Iraq.

    In a statement, Neom said: “The shipment travelled through an intermodal corridor spanning over 900 kilometres, marking a significant milestone in the kingdom’s transformation into a regional and global logistics hub.”

    The Port of Neom is located on the Red Sea near the Arar border, a key entry point into Iraq.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/19907876/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal