Air Products & Chemicals, the U.S. industrial gas giant, announced plans on Tuesday to build a green hydrogen plant in Saudi Arabia powered by 4 gigawatts of wind and solar power, the world’s largest such project announced so far.
The $5 billion plant will be jointly owned by Air Products, Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and Neom, a new mega-city planned near Saudi Arabia’s borders with Egypt and Jordan.
The completed facility will produce 650 tons of green hydrogen daily, enough to run around 20,000 hydrogen-fueled buses, Air Products said. The fuel will be shipped as ammonia to end markets globally then converted back to hydrogen. Ammonia production is expected to start in 2025.
The project would be a big step forward for Saudi Arabia’s ambition for Neom to become an important global center for renewable energy and green hydrogen. The country is establishing Neom as a special economic zone, with an ambition to host 1 million people from around the world.
“This is a pivotal moment for the development of Neom and a key element in Saudi Vision 2030 contributing to the Kingdom’s clean energy and circular carbon economy strategy,” Neom CEO Nadhmi Al Nasr said in a statement.