Saudi Arabia is making green hydrogen and ammonia at the scale it once made oil — and building the export infrastructure before the customers exist. : NEOM's Helios green hydrogen project at Oxagon

 

Saudi Arabia is making green hydrogen and ammonia at the scale it once made oil — and building the export infrastructure before the customers exist.

NEOM's Helios green hydrogen project at Oxagon — the hexagonal industrial city being constructed on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast — represents the most audacious bet on the hydrogen economy made by any single entity anywhere in the world. 4 gigawatts of dedicated solar and wind capacity, powering 2.2 gigawatts of electrolysis, producing 600 tonnes of hydrogen per day — converted to ammonia for export and to green hydrogen for NEOM's own transport, industrial, and building systems. When fully operational, Helios will produce more green hydrogen in a year than the entire world produced in 2022.

The infrastructure being built around Helios establishes Saudi Arabia's position in the global hydrogen supply chain independently of whether demand materialises on the projected timeline. The dedicated renewable energy generation, the electrolysis capacity, the ammonia production and storage facilities, the export terminal at Oxagon's deep-water port — each element is commercially useful regardless of what happens to global hydrogen markets. The ammonia can sell into existing fertiliser markets if the hydrogen fuel market develops more slowly than expected. The renewable electricity can feed NEOM's own consumption if ammonia prices are unfavourable. The export terminal can handle multiple liquid fuels.

Saudi Arabia is not betting that the hydrogen economy will develop exactly as projected. It is building the infrastructure that ensures Saudi Arabia profits from the hydrogen economy regardless of which version of it actually arrives. The kingdom that dominated the oil age by controlling the most critical fossil fuel reserves is applying the same strategic logic to the post-fossil fuel economy. The desert sun is the reserve. Helios is the extraction facility.

Source: NEOM Company & Air Products — Helios Green Hydrogen Project Operations Commencement Report 2024

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