Close watchers of the budding (green) hydrogen economy will find plenty of interest in yesterday’s Saudi Green Initiative, the Kingdom’s flagship event at COP28 in Dubai.

Construction work has wrapped up on phase one of Neom’s mega green hydrogen plant,Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told attendees at the SGI. Prince Abdulaziz appeared via video conference.

Seeking global leadership: Neom’s USD 8.5 bn green hydrogen project, which is slated to be the world’s largest carbon-free green hydrogen plant,is one of the cornerstones of the Kingdom’s aim to lead the global green hydrogen market by becoming one of the planet’s largest exporter of the clean-burning fuel, the minister added.

The next step: An economic corridor announced earlier this year between India, Europe and the Middle East would support the kingdom’s ambition to export green hydrogen at an affordable price, Prince Abdulaziz added.

ALSO- The kingdom has big renewable energy tenders set for next year: “We plan to launch renewable energy tenders for the deployment of 20 GW [of generation capacity] in 2024” he said, without providing details on the timeline. Some 13 GW worth of renewable energy projects are on the drawing board right now, Prince Abdulaziz said, with a further 8 GW worth of capacity now in the construction phase.

Background- The USD 8.4 bn green hydrogen plant at Neom is set to reach full capacity by the end of 2026, with all of its production set for export, the minister said. The plant achieved financial close earlier this year and will have a 1.2 mn ton annual production capacity once operational. The first batch of wind turbines arrived in Neom’s port with dozens more expected by the year’s end, executives said in October.

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