Neom Green Hydrogen Co. said it will begin producing the fuel for transportation by 2024, the head of the venture said according to Bloomberg.
By mid-2024, the company will be making hydrogen for vehicles such as buses and trucks, Chief Executive Officer Dave Edmondson said in Dubai. A larger plant, focusing on exports, is also being developed, Bloomberg reports.
Neom Green Hydrogen is a joint venture between local firm ACWA Power, state-backed Neom and US-based Air Products & Chemicals Inc. It forms just one part of Saudi Arabia’s plans to expand in clean-tech industries as it prepares for a future beyond fossil fuels.
As Bloomberg notes, green hydrogen is still far more expensive than oil and natural gas, but developers are confident they can reduce costs enough to make it competitive.
The bigger plant, a $8.4 billion project designed to produce 600 tons of hydrogen a day using wind and solar power, will start exporting fuel in the form of ammonia in 2026.
Recently, Italy-based Webuild and its joint-venture partner Shibh Al Jazira Contracting Company (SAJCO) signed a contract worth circa $1.5 billion to design and build 57 kilometers (35.4 miles) of a high-speed railway in NEOM, along the north Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia which will connect Oxagon and The Line.
