When the NEOM Green Hydrogen Company received financial close in May 2023, it was the first gigawatt-scale green hydrogen project anywhere in the world to reach that milestone. The $8.4 billion joint venture between ACWA Power, Air Products, and NEOM — backed by 23 banks and financial institutions — was widely described as a proof point for the sector: evidence that the capital markets were prepared to back renewable ammonia production at scale, provided the project structure was sufficiently de-risked.
Two and a half years later, the project is approaching completion. NEOM Green Hydrogen Company reported 90% construction progress across all components in January 2026, including the green hydrogen production facility at Oxagon, the wind turbine garden, the solar farm, and the integrated transmission grid. The 4 GW of combined solar and wind capacity is on track to be energised by mid-2026, with electrolyser commissioning and first green ammonia production expected to follow in 2027.
What the plant will produce
At nameplate capacity, the NEOM facility will produce 600 tonnes per day of green hydrogen via thyssenkrupp electrolysis technology, converting it into up to 1.2 million tonnes per year of green ammonia using Air Products' nitrogen separation technology. All of that ammonia is committed under a 30-year exclusive offtake agreement with Air Products, which will act as the commercial off-taker and has separately announced advanced negotiations with Yara International to serve as distribution and marketing partner for European customers.
The plant's dedicated jetty at Oxagon — one of NEOM's Red Sea industrial facilities — will handle export shipments. The Red Sea access point is a strategically significant location: direct access to the Suez Canal for European customers, and passage to Asian markets via the Arabian Sea. The shipping economics from NEOM to both major demand centres are materially better than from the US Gulf Coast and broadly comparable with Australian projects.
Air Products is in advanced negotiations with Yara International for a marketing and distribution agreement covering all the renewable ammonia that Air Products does not convert to green hydrogen at its own European facilities — a deal that would represent the largest green ammonia distribution arrangement agreed to date.
Saudi Arabia's broader export strategy
NEOM is the most advanced project in what is shaping up to be a significant Saudi export portfolio. ACWA Power's Yanbu Green Hydrogen Hub, targeting 2.2 MTPA of green ammonia and positioned as the single largest green ammonia project globally, is in development with FID expected in the 2026 to 2027 timeframe. Ma'aden, the Saudi mining company, has announced a 0.4 MTPA green ammonia project in partnership with SABIC. SARCO and Go Energy have a 0.5 MTPA project in development.
Saudi Arabia's structural advantages for green ammonia export are considerable. Solar irradiation in the northwest of the country — where NEOM is located — supports capacity factors among the highest in the world. Land availability is unconstrained. Existing hydrocarbon export infrastructure, including tank storage and dedicated berths at Red Sea and Arabian Gulf ports, provides a base on which green ammonia export infrastructure can be layered. The kingdom's Vision 2030 programme has created strong policy alignment behind the energy transition, even as the Aramco hydrocarbon business continues to operate at full capacity.
The competitive context
The NEOM plant's 2027 commissioning will place it in a competitive field that looks somewhat different from when it reached financial close in 2023. Northeast China's operational green ammonia capacity is already approaching 600,000 tonnes per year, with further capacity coming online through 2026. AM Green's Kakinada project in India is under construction with a 2027 completion target at 1 MTPA. Australian projects, while facing development timelines that have extended further than originally projected, remain in active development.
What distinguishes NEOM is a combination of scale and the reliability of the offtake structure. A 30-year agreement with Air Products — a company with investment-grade credit and a stated commitment to green hydrogen deployment in Europe — provides a level of commercial certainty that very few projects in the global pipeline can match. That certainty was the foundation on which $8.4 billion of project finance was assembled, and it is the reason the project has maintained its construction timeline while others have slipped.
What to watch in 2026 and 2027
The remaining milestones between now and first production carry genuine execution risk. Electrolyser commissioning at gigawatt scale has not been done before. Integrating 4 GW of variable renewable generation with a continuous industrial process — with sufficient hydrogen buffer storage to manage intermittency — is an engineering challenge for which there is limited precedent at this size. The technical teams at ACWA Power and Air Products are experienced, and the project design has been developed over several years, but the commissioning phase will be closely watched across the sector.
The Air Products and Yara marketing agreement, if finalised, will also be a significant data point for the broader green ammonia trade. It will represent the first disclosure of commercial terms for large-volume, long-term green ammonia imports into Europe at a scale that can influence pricing expectations across the sector. The Ammonia Observatory will monitor both the commissioning trajectory and commercial developments as the project moves into its final phase.