The first wind turbines have been delivered to Saudi Arabia’s flagship green hydrogen and ammonia complex in the planned megacity Neom.
The 6.5MW wind turbines, supplied by Chinese manufacturer Envision, arrived at the port of Neom (formerly Duba) in October and are being transported for installation near the Gulf of Aqaba.
Hydrogen Insight has reached out to the Neom Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC) developing the project to confirm the reason behind the gap between delivery and installation, as well as the timetable for the rest of the renewables to be received.
Envision is set to supply 250 turbines in total, with a combined 1.67GW of capacity, which are scheduled to start operations in 2026.
Fellow Chinese renewable energy equipment firm Sungrow is also contracted to supply 2.2GW of solar PV and 400MWh of battery storage capacity to the project, although the first of these assets is yet to be delivered.
The green hydrogen project is set to use 2.2GW of electrolysers, supplied by German company Thyssenkrupp Nucera, to produce 600 tonnes a day of H2.
From there, the hydrogen will be used as feedstock to produce 1.2 million tonnes of ammonia — the full offtake for which has been contracted by industrial gases company Air Products for 30 years.
The complex started construction in March, shortly before formally agreeing a $8.4bn financial close in May this year, with $6.1bn secured in non-recourse loans from 23 lenders.
Air Products, which along with Saudi renewables firm Acwa Power and Neom owns a share of NGHC, is also in charge of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for the project, worth $6.7bn.
In June, the company awarded $2.8bn in sub-contracts for the upstream renewables and balance of plant EPC to Indian firm Larsen & Toubro.
“This is the first of a series of major equipment deliveries arriving over the next year. We continue to make great progress since achieving financial close earlier this year and are on track to start exporting green hydrogen in 2026,” said NGHC’s current CEO David Edmondson, who is due to step down from his role at the end of this year and return to his previous company, Air Products.
- This article was published first by Hydrogen Insight
