ACWA Power signs agreement to develop green hydrogen project in Egypt worth more than $4 billion

Saudi-listed ACWA Power, the world’s largest private water desalination company, leader in energy transition and first mover into green hydrogen, has signed the framework agreement, following the MoU that was signed in 7th of December 2022 to outline 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 in excess of USD 4bn, with the intention of scaling up to a second phase with a potential capacity of 2 million tonnes-per-year

The agreement was signed between ACWA Power and The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA). 

The signing ceremony took place in the presence of the H.E. Dr. Moustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt; H.E. Dr. Mohamed Shaker, the Egyptian Minister of Electricity; H.E. Osama Bin Ahmed Nugali, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Egypt, Mr. Ayman Soliman, CEO of the TSFE, Mr. Waleid Gamal Eldien, Chairman of SCZone, , Eng. Sabah Mashaly, Chairman of EETC; Dr. Mohamed El Khayat, Chairman, NREA; Marco Arcelli, CEO, ACWA Power, Thomas Brostrom CIO, ACWA Power, Driss Berraho VP, Business Development-Green Hydrogen and Hassan Amin, Country Director- Egypt, ACWA Power. This Framework agreement marks the next step in the development of this large-scale Green Hydrogen facility.

The framework agreement lays out the development of the first phase of a green ammonia project with a capacity of 600,000 tonnes-per-year powered by wind and solar plants, with the intention of working on a larger green hydrogen project in the country which could have a capacity of up to two million-tonnes-per-year of green hydrogen. 

Commenting on the agreement, ACWA Power CEO Marco Arcelli said: “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. 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.”

ACWA Power has a history of developing significant renewable projects to ensure a reliable supply of clean and low-cost energy to Egypt. This latest project brings the total number of ACWA Power’s assets in operation, under construction, and in advanced development in Egypt to 5 – all renewable energy projects with a total power generation capacity of 1.4 GW. 

It will be a significant addition to ACWA Power’s rapidly expanding green hydrogen portfolio. Development is well underway at 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. The project will be capable of producing 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia per year. The first wind turbines were delivered to the site in October.

On November 27th, the company broke ground 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 per year, with the intention to expand to a second phase. Once the second phase is complete, 2.4 GW of wind energy will power the production of 500,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year.

The company also signed further agreements during COP28 for green hydrogen projects in Jordan and Indonesia. 

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