NEOM Green Hydrogen Complex

NGHC is the largest utility-scale green hydrogen plant under construction anywhere: 2.2 GW of electrolysers running entirely on roughly 4 GW of dedicated on-site wind and solar, with no grid connection to fall back on. Financial close came in May 2023 at an investment value of $8.4 billion.

Project Scope

About 2.2 GW of solar from more than 5.6 million panels and 1.6 GW of wind from over 250 turbines feed alkaline electrolysers supplied by thyssenkrupp nucera. Output runs up to 600 tonnes a day of hydrogen, converted on site into roughly 1.2 million tonnes a year of green ammonia, because ammonia is the only practical way to ship the molecule to European and Asian buyers. The company projects about 5 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent avoided a year. NGHC is an equal three-way joint venture between Air Products, NEOM and ACWA Power. Air Products is unusually exposed here: primary EPC contractor, system integrator, equal equity partner and exclusive offtaker under a 30-year agreement. Larsen & Toubro holds sub-EPC scope. Construction passed 90 percent across the major sites in April 2026.

Why It Matters

The engineering question the whole sector is waiting on is load-following. Running gigawatt-scale electrolysis off intermittent generation, with no grid to buffer the swings, has never been done at this size. Electrolyser stacks don’t enjoy being cycled, and the economics depend on utilisation nobody has demonstrated at 2.2 GW.

If it works, the reference plant for every green ammonia project in the world sits on the Red Sea coast. If the availability numbers come in soft, a lot of announced projects quietly get reworked around grid connections and firm power. Commissioning runs through 2027.

Project Team & Details