First Chinese wind turbines delivered to giant Neom green hydrogen and ammonia complex
Developer re-affirms project on track for first exports in 2026, despite hazy timetable for full delivery of upstream renewable assets
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.
Envision is set to supply 250 turbines in total, with a combined 1.67GW of capacity, which are scheduled to start operations in 2026.
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