The $8.4bn Neom project in Saudi Arabia is on track to start producing 1.2mt/yr of green ammonia in 2026, with the developers now starting to think about the development’s next stages.

The plant will produce green ammonia from 600t/yr of green hydrogen manufactured from 4GW of renewable power, making it the biggest facility of its type in the world. The entire offtake will be lifted and sold by the US’ Air Products in a 30-year deal.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources awarded its first industrial operating licence to Neom Green Hydrogen Company, a joint venture of Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, Air Products and Neom.

The project reached financial close in May, with $6.1b of non-recourse financing raised from 23 local, regional and international banks and financial institutions. Construction is already underway.

“We are on schedule. The project is advancing, and we are preparing for expansions,” said Roland Kaeppner, executive director of hydrogen and green fuels within the energy sector at Neom, speaking on a webinar organised by German knowledge-sharing hub Mission Hydrogen.

“The project is advancing, and we are preparing for expansions” Kaeppner, Neom

There are four key projects now underway designed to support and accompany the Neom project: a Hydrogen Innovation and Development Centre (HIDC), an Applied Research Institute (ARI), a hydrogen drone delivery project, and a coastal transportation project.

Construction on the HIDC—which will act as a lab to develop and reduce the costs of various technologies in the hydrogen ecosystem—is underway. The hub will be home to a 20MW electrolyser that will be used to produce green hydrogen from 2025. That green hydrogen will be combined with CO₂ to generate synthetic methanol using technology developed by engineering firm ThyssenKrupp. The synthetic methanol will then be converted into 35b/d of e-gasoline using methanol-to-gasoline technology developed by ExxonMobil.

The centre will also act as a refuelling hub for trucks and buses as part of a trial mobility project, and it will be connected to a carbon capture network to test blue hydrogen technologies as part of a joint project with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

The ARI will be constructed by 2025 and aims to evaluate technologies across the hydrogen value chain, including membranes and catalysts in electrolysers, midstream transportation technologies and e-fuels conversion technologies.

The institute will be part of a wider plan being developed by Saudi Arabia to establish a world class education, research and innovation sector in the region.

Hydrogen drones

In addition, the Hycraft project is looking to develop hydrogen-powered delivery drones, electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (EVTOLs) and the supporting infrastructure for these technologies. Earlier this year, Neom and EVTOL developer Volocopter announced they had completed a series of air taxi test flights. The taxis tested were battery-electric vehicles, but they could also be powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

Kaeppner said NGHC would soon make a large announcement on its efforts to use hydrogen in the aviation sector.

“We are building an international airport in Neom that will be larger than the one in Dubai. We will have our own airline, and hydrogen will play a very important role here,” he said.

Neom’s goal with all of these projects is to establish a sustainable multi-modal transport system that can be used as a demonstrator for other urban areas around the world.

Neom’s Investment Fund (NIF)—inaugurated in October—will invest in technologies that help further this goal through both acquisitions and venture capital stakes in technology startups.

Such investments have recently been made in electric sea glider developer Regent, autonomous driving firm Pony.ai and supersonic airliner developer Boom Technologies.

In marine transport, the Green Hydrogen Coast scheme aims to implement green hydrogen and associated clean fuels in clean shipping applications in the Red Sea.

‘Basically, we want to implement green hydrogen and clean fuels in coastal shipping and transportation of goods or people,” said Kaeppner. “You will see the first hydrogen foil boats cruising across the waters of the Red Sea from next year.”

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Author: Tom Young