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Construction work on the $8.4bn Neom green hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia has reached a 60% completion rate.

According to a source close to the project, work is ongoing across all three sites, including the wind, solar and green hydrogen production facilities.

At this rate, the project appears on track to meet the company’s 2026 target commercial operation date.

Former Neom Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC) CEO, David Edmondson, told MEED in November last year that “the first ammonia production is expected sometime between mid to late summer of 2026”.

The executive also confirmed at the time that NGHC and its shareholders “are now looking at a potential second phase” of the project.

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

The US-headquartered industrial gases firm Air Products, Saudi utility developer Acwa Power and Public Investment Fund-backed Neom equally own NGHC, the project company implementing the scheme.

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

The integrated facility will produce hydrogen, which will be synthesised into carbon-free ammonia for exclusive export by Air Products to global markets.

The Neom green hydrogen project 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 about 1.2 million tonnes of ammonia a year.

Construction works have been in full swing for the various elements of the project, after it reached financial close in May 2023.

India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is the EPC contractor for the project’s renewable energy and transmission and distribution package.

L&T’s EPC scope includes a 2,200MW solar plant, a 1,370MW wind farm, a 400MW battery energy storage system and a transmission network extending 190km.

In October last year, NGHC received the first set of wind turbines for one of the two renewable energy plants that will power the integrated green hydrogen and ammonia production facility.

MEED reported in May that Greek contractor Archirodon had won the $100m design-and-build contract for the jetty catering to the project.

The jetty will handle liquid ammonia exports to Europe. The project is expected to be completed in 2025.

Photo credit: NGHC