Saudi and Korean Power Firms Link on Green Hydrogen/Ammonia

Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), South Korea’s largest electric utilities provider, to jointly develop industrial-scale green hydrogen and green ammonia projects.

The companies propose to partner on projects in the Middle East and other agreed geographies, including decarbonizing KEP’s operations in South Korea. According to ACWA Power, KEPCO is set to rely increasingly on green ammonia produced by green hydrogen for power generation purposes and is targeting the use of 5-10 million t of green ammonia by 2030.

“The world is witnessing the alarming impact of climate change and as pressure rapidly mounts to take immediate, mitigating action, collaborative efforts need to be made to find the right solutions,” said Paddy Padmanathan, ACWA Power’s CEO and vice chairman. “We are honored to work with committed, long-term partners like KEPCO to accelerate the exploration of green hydrogen – a solution that can decarbonize entire industries and make a real difference towards reducing global warming.”

The MoU is the first of its kind between the companies, although they have been joint investors for nearly a decade in other Saudi power projects.

ACWA Power is working on several green hydrogen projects in the Middle East and South Korea. The NEOM Green Hydrogen Company, a joint venture with NEOM and Air Products, is developing a project in Saudi Arabia that will produce up to 650 t/d green hydrogen when it starts up in 2026.

Working with Air Products again, ACWA Power in May signed a joint development agreement, which also includes Oman energy group OQ, for a multi-billion-dollar investment in a world-scale green hydrogen/green ammonia facility.

Proposed for Oman’s Salalah Free Zone, the project will include the integration of renewable power from solar, wind and storage, production of hydrogen by electrolysis, production of nitrogen by air separation, and production of green ammonia.

In South Korea, ACWA Power signed an agreement with POSCO Holdings in July to develop green hydrogen to decarbonize the latter’s power generation and steel manufacturing processes.

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist