The new Middle East Electrolysers Company, formed with Green Electrode Consortium of Industry (GECI), will look to meet growing demand in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The JV will set up a research and development centre, with its headquarters due to be located in the Kingdom’s eastern province.

GECI is a Saudi industrial consortium supported by the Ministry of Energy and engaged in the localisation of hydrogen-related technologies. It has already formed a JV with Spain’s Jolt Solutions to establish an electrode plant at the King Salman Energy Park.

GECI CEO Abdulrahman Al-Wahtani said it would be working with Hygreen on the JV’s five-year business plan and a long-term roadmap to identify where to build manufacturing capacities.

Hygreen emerged as the globally focused rebrand of Beijing SinoHy Energy Co., with plans to deploy its alkaline, PEM, and AEM systems worldwide.

It has unveiled plans to set up 5GW of alkaline manufacturing capacity in Spain, as well as other operations in Chile. In July, it announced it would use Bosch’s 1.25MW stacks for its PEM units.

Hygreen has not yet confirmed which technologies will be produced in Saudi Arabia, but Chairman Benny Wang said the company recognised the nation’s “strong industrial foundation” and “visionary leadership in clean energy.”

“We are fully committed to establishing a dedicated R&D centre, training Saudi engineers, and collaborating with national universities to drive innovation and technological advancement,” he said.

Saudi Arabia has been bullish on its green hydrogen plans as it looks to establish itself as a major supplier of the energy carrier. In addition to the under-construction 2.2GW Neom project, it looks set to host a 4.4GW plant being developed by ACWA Power.

By onshoring technology manufacturing, the nation will build up its technical expertise and improve supply chain security.