Neom’s 2.2-GW Green Hydrogen Plant Nears Finish Amid Buyer Shortfall

• Construction at Saudi Arabia’s $8.4-bn Neom green-hydrogen complex is 80% complete, but muted global demand leaves only one confirmed buyer, forcing developers to court local offtakers.

Saudi Arabia’s Neom Green Hydrogen Project—touted as the world’s largest integrated facility of its kind—has crossed the 80 % construction mark, its partners ACWA Power, Air Products and Neom confirmed this week. The milestone covers all major sites: the green-hydrogen plant at Oxagon, a 4-GW mix of dedicated solar and wind farms, a “wind garden” for turbine arrays, and the transmission backbone linking the complex across more than 300 km² of desert.

Hardware in place. Crews have now installed core equipment including electrolyser stacks, hydrogen storage spheres, the cold-box refrigeration train and pipe-rack spines. Over 250 Siemens-Gamesa turbines and 5.6 million solar panels are due to finish erection by mid-2026, after which commissioning of the 600-t/day electrolysers will begin. First shipments of green ammonia—used to move hydrogen long distances—are pencilled in for 2027.

Price-tag and partners. Backed by a USD 6.1 bn syndicated loan, the USD 8.4 bn venture is a 33⅓ % joint-venture between:

• Neom – the Saudi giga-project master-planner;

• ACWA Power – renewables developer and EPC lead;

• Air Products – system integrator and sole off-taker at the project fence.

Air Products, which will convert the hydrogen to ammonia and re-crack it at receiving terminals, calls the scheme a “flagship proof-point” for its clean-energy pivot.

Clouds on the demand horizon

Yet the celebratory construction update lands just as fresh reporting highlights a softer market than once assumed. According to Bloomberg, only one binding international buyer—TotalEnergies, for up to 70,000 t per year between 2030 and 2045—has been secured, leaving more than half of the planned output without a home. Developers are now weighing a phased ramp-up and a stronger focus on domestic offtake to hedge demand risk.

“Green hydrogen still lacks clear, bankable demand signals in heavy industry and long-haul transport,” one analyst noted, adding that Neom’s sheer scale “means the project will test whether supply can create its own market.”

Why it still matters

• Scale economics: At full run-rate, Neom would ship 1.2 million t of green ammonia a year, avoiding an estimated five million t of CO₂ annually compared with fossil-based hydrogen.

• Saudi Vision 2030: The plant anchors the kingdom’s bid to lead global hydrogen trade and diversify its hydrocarbon-heavy economy.

• Technology integration: While each component is proven, knitting gigawatt-scale renewables, electrolysis and ammonia synthesis into one continuous flow has never been attempted commercially.

Project sponsors insist the timetable remains intact—solar-and-wind completion by June 2026 and first product in 2027—but concede that further FIDs on downstream terminals will wait until “firm customer commitments” emerge.

Whether the market catches up in time will decide if Neom becomes a landmark in the clean-energy transition—or a cautionary tale about building megaprojects ahead of demand.