Saudi Arabia's Acwa Power, Egypt seal $4 billion green hydrogen deal

Saudi Arabia's Acwa Power on Wednesday (Dec. 20) signed an agreement to develop a green hydrogen project worth more than $4 billion in Egypt.

The framework agreement follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in December last year that outlined the development of the first phase of the green hydrogen project in Egypt with a capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year of green ammonia, with an investment above US$4 billion, intending to scale up to a second phase with a potential capacity of US $2 million tonnes per year.

"As a first mover in green hydrogen, ACWA Power is proud to bring its expertise in this new and exciting market to Egypt. We commend our partners for their bold step into producing the fuel for the future, for which there will be great demand in Europe and the rest of the world," said Marco Arcelli, CEO of Acwa Power.

"Egypt is well-positioned to become one of the world's top producers of green hydrogen and we are elated to be a part of the country's energy transition."

With the signing of the latest project Acwa Power's assets in operation, under construction, and in advanced development in Egypt have risen to five – all renewable energy projects with a total power generation capacity of 1.4 GW.

Acwa Power has been expanding its green hydrogen portfolio in the Middle East and beyond in addition to its current projects.

The company is developing the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project, a joint venture between ACWA Power, Air Products, and NEOM to create the world's first utility-scale green hydrogen plant in the northwest of Saudi Arabia. On completion, the project will be capable of producing 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia per year.

In November, Acwa Power also held a groundbreaking ceremony on its second green hydrogen project in Uzbekistan. The first phase of this project will be capable of producing 3,000 tonnes of green hydrogen and in its second phase, it will produce 500,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year.

At the recently concluded COP28 Summit Acwa Power also signed agreements for developing green hydrogen projects in Jordan and Indonesia.