ACWA Power and the Uzbek government will jointly develop a pilot-scale renewable hydrogen facility, which is to be integrated with an existing ammonia & fertilizer plant outside the country’s capital Tashkent. The pair will also explore the feasibility of a 500,000 tonnes per year renewable ammonia facility in the Central Asian country.

Saudi-based ACWA Power has signed agreements to explore the overseas production of hydrogen & ammonia with two organisations: South Korean power utility KEPCO, and government-owned finance body the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa.

Saudi-based ACWA Power and South Korean-based POSCO will join forces to develop new hydrogen and ammonia production projects, with an eye towards decarbonising POSCO’s power generation and steel making activities in South Korea. The pair are already significant players in the ammonia energy space, with POSCO setting ambitious goals for production & imports, and ACWA involved in multiple mega-projects in the Middle East.

Last month UN Climate Change announced an initiative whose goal is to scale up green hydrogen production significantly over the next six years. “The new ‘Green Hydrogen Catapult’ initiative will see green hydrogen industry leaders, including ACWA Power, CWP Renewables, Envision, Iberdrola, Ørsted, Snam, and Yara, target the deployment of 25 gigawatts through 2026 of renewables-based hydrogen production, with a view to halve the current cost of hydrogen to below US$2 per kilogram.”

Last week, Air Products, ACWA Power, and NEOM announced a $5 billion, 4 gigawatt green ammonia plant in Saudi Arabia, to be operational by 2025. Air Products, the exclusive off-taker, intends to distribute the green ammonia globally and crack it back to “carbon-free hydrogen” at the point of use, supplying hydrogen refueling stations. According to Air Products’ presentation on the project, “our focus is fueling hydrogen fuel cell buses and trucks.” This will be one of the first projects to be built in the industrial hub of NEOM, a futuristic “model for sustainable living.” NEOM is a key element in Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to diversify the Saudi Arabian economy and reduce dependence on oil revenues. In other words, Saudi Arabia is establishing itself as “a global leader in green hydrogen production and green fuels.”