Overview
Green hydrogen — from hype to named projects
Green hydrogen is produced by electrolyser systems splitting water using renewable electricity. It is the only scalable pathway to decarbonise steelmaking, ammonia production, and long-haul shipping. The challenge is cost: green hydrogen at $3–8/kg cannot yet compete with grey hydrogen from natural gas at $1–2/kg. The following named projects are actually progressing — not just announced.
$3–8/kg
Green H₂ cost today (vs $1–2 grey H₂)
$500–700/kW
Electrolyser cost 2024 (down from $1,200 in 2020)
<$1/kg
Target cost by 2030 in best locations (IEA)
5 MT/yr
India National Green H₂ Mission target by 2030
Named projects — GPS-located
Major green hydrogen projects — status and GPS
| Project | GPS | Scale | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEOM Green Hydrogen (Helios) | 28.00°N 35.50°E | 4 GW electrolysis · 650 t/day H₂ | Under construction — target 2026 | NEOM city, Tabuk Province, Saudi Arabia. Joint venture: Air Products (46.5%), ACWA Power (37.5%), NEOM (16%). $8.4 billion investment. H₂ converted to green ammonia for export. Air Products has exclusive offtake rights. One of the world's largest real green hydrogen projects with committed financing. Source: NEOM/Air Products. |
| Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) | 26.00°S 114.00°E | 26 GW wind+solar · 1.6 MT/yr H₂ | Permitting/development | Pilbara region, Western Australia. CWP Global + Intercontinental Energy. 6,500 km² site. Would produce green ammonia for Asian export. Australia's Federal Government approved as a Major Project of Commonwealth Significance. Timeline has extended — previously targeting 2028, now 2030+. |
| Yara Porsgrunn Green Ammonia | 59.14°N 9.66°E | 500 t/yr green ammonia | Operational | Yara International, Norway. World's first industrial-scale green ammonia plant. Uses hydroelectric power from Norway's grid. Small scale but proof-of-concept for the green ammonia value chain (H₂ → NH₃ → export → crack back to H₂ at destination). Yara is the world's largest ammonia trader. Source: Yara Annual Report 2024. |
| NTPC Simhadri Green H₂ Pilot | 17.62°N 83.24°E | 1 MW electrolyser · 30 t/yr | Operational — India's first | Simhadri, Andhra Pradesh, India. NTPC Limited's first green hydrogen demonstration project at its thermal power station. 1 MW PEM electrolyser. Produced India's first green hydrogen in 2022. Proving the integration of electrolysers with grid electricity. Precursor to India's larger commercial-scale green H₂ ambitions. Source: NTPC Annual Report 2023. |
| ACWA Power Oman Green H₂ | 22.50°N 59.50°E | 3 GW electrolysis target | Development | Oman's Dhofar region (17.00°N 54.10°E). ACWA Power + OQ (Oman Oil Company). Oman has signed multiple green hydrogen MoUs — strong solar resource and existing ammonia export infrastructure (Salalah, 17.00°N 54.09°E). Oman targeting 1 MT/yr green hydrogen by 2030. |
| HyDeal Ambition — Europe | 40.42°N 3.70°W | 67 GW European production | Framework agreement | Consortium: Iberdrola, Enagas, various. Spain and Portugal as main production sites. Target: deliver green H₂ at €1.5/kg to European industrial buyers by 2030. Pipeline interconnection critical — requires new hydrogen pipelines or repurposed natural gas pipes. European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) proposes 53,000 km of H₂ pipeline by 2040. |
| NTPC Rajasthan Solar H₂ | 26.15°N 73.03°E | Tendered 800 MW electrolyser | Tendering/development | Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, India. NTPC Green Energy Limited (NGEL) tendering 800 MW electrolyser capacity co-located with Rajasthan solar projects. India's renewable electricity cost advantage (solar at ₹2/kWh in Rajasthan) makes LCOH (levelised cost of hydrogen) potentially competitive by 2026–2028. Source: NTPC NGEL. |
Questions
Questions about hydrogen projects
Why are so many announced hydrogen projects being delayed or cancelled?
Between 2020 and 2022, hundreds of green hydrogen projects were announced globally — IEA tracked proposals totalling approximately 520 GW of electrolysis by 2030. By 2023–2024, the majority had been delayed, scaled back, or cancelled. The reasons: (1) Electrolyser cost and supply chain: Electrolyser manufacturing has not scaled as fast as solar panels did — the promised cost reductions have been slower than projected. (2) Electricity cost: Green hydrogen economics depend entirely on cheap renewable electricity. Projects in high-cost electricity markets are unviable. Even in Saudi Arabia or Australia with excellent solar, the LCOH is still $3–5/kg — higher than grey H₂. (3) Infrastructure: Green hydrogen cannot be easily transported. Compressed H₂ has low energy density per volume; liquid H₂ requires −253°C cooling; ammonia conversion adds cost. The destination infrastructure (pipelines, import terminals, cracking plants) doesn't exist yet. (4) Offtake uncertainty: Industrial buyers want long-term supply contracts at fixed prices before committing to expensive infrastructure. But developers need offtake before they can get financing. Classic chicken-and-egg. (5) Policy delay: EU hydrogen subsidies under the IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) and US IRA hydrogen credits have been slower to flow than expected. The projects most likely to succeed: those with co-located cheap renewables, committed industrial offtakers, and government financial support — like NEOM/Helios and the Australian export hubs. Source: IEA Hydrogen 2024 · BloombergNEF Hydrogen Market Outlook 2024.
Provenance
Attribution and citation
- Sources
- IEA Global Hydrogen Review 2024 · IRENA Green Hydrogen Cost Reduction 2024 · NEOM/Air Products announcements · Neste AR 2023 · NTPC Annual Report 2023
- Cite as
- "Green Hydrogen Projects — GPS-Located Global Reference", The Energy Codex, https://thecodex.expert/energy/hydrogen/projects/, last updated .