NEOM signs green hydrogen deal in Saudi Arabia

NEOM Green Hydrogen Company has secured an exclusive 30-year off-take agreement with Air Products for what they claim will be the world’s largest green hydrogen plant, while Germany’s EEX has launched the world’s first market-based hydrogen index.

May 25, 2023 Sergio Matalucci

Image: NEOM

From pv magazine Global

Neom Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC) has secured financial close on the world’s largest green hydrogen production facility, valued at $8.4 billion. It has signed financial documents with 23 banks and investment firms. The facility is currently under construction in Oxagon, Saudi Arabia. NGHC ha salso finalized an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreement with Air Products, worth $6.7 billion. In addition, NGHC said it has secured an exclusive 30-year off-take agreement with Air Products for all the green ammonia produced at the facility. This agreement is expected to unlock the economic potential of renewable energy across the value chain. NGHC, a joint venture by ACWA Power, Air Products, and NEOM, expects large-scale production of green ammonia from the plant in 2026.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has allocated $42 million to fund 22 projects in 14 states to advance clean hydrogen production, storage, and deployment technologies. These projects will focus on developing solar fuel technologies, demonstrating more efficient hydrogen storage methods, reducing costs of hydrogen fuel cells for transportation, and enhancing hydrogen emissions detection and monitoring, according to the US government. The DoE said it has also prioritized projects to address community concerns regarding hydrogen emissions and safety.

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) is set to launch HYDRIX, the world’s first market-based hydrogen index. The Leipzig-based company said that HYDRIX will provide information on traded prices for green hydrogen, ensuring price transparency for the growing market. The index will be calculated weekly from May 24, 2023, and published in euros per megawatt-hour on the EEX Transparency Platform every Wednesday at 4 p.m.

The Initiative Energien Speichern (INES) has launched an interactive map to serve as a new database for gas and hydrogen storage facilities in Germany. The online tool features 23 large underground storage facilities, with most hydrogen projects in the planning or implementation stage. Currently, Germany does not have any operational commercial hydrogen storage facility. To meet the 2030 hydrogen target, INES said that eight existing gas storage facilities must be converted from natural gas to hydrogen. The gas storage network operator noted the insufficiency of the current gas storage capacity for the envisioned hydrogen economy.

RAG Austria has launched a demonstration facility to store hydrogen in an underground porous reservoir. It said that the facility converts solar energy into green hydrogen through water electrolysis, which is then stored in the underground natural gas reservoir in Austria. The customized demonstration facility aims to produce hydrogen by 2025 and store it underground for future use as a material or energy source in the region, including supplying electricity and heat through hydrogen power plants to ensure a secure energy supply.

Renova has selected H2X Global as the supplier for a fleet-wide contract valued at up to SEK 240 million ($22.9 million) to purchase hydrogen fuel-powered commercial trucks for Gothenburg. Australia-based H2X Global said that it has successfully secured vehicles in 12 out of the 13 specified categories, including 18 and 26-tonne vehicle classes. Renova Group, which is owned by 10 municipalities in western Sweden, made the decision.

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