The Danish technology firm said it would provide its dynamic ammonia systems to the Yanbu Green Hydrogen Project to allow production to respond to fluctuating renewable energy supply.

Topsoe said the flexibility could reduce both capital and operating costs by limiting the need for large-scale hydrogen storage.

The firm will also deliver engineering, equipment and catalysts for its technology to China’s Sinopec and Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas, who are carrying out front-end engineering design for the project.

The Yanbu project plans to combine 10GW of wind and solar power with 4.4GW of electrolysis to produce up to 2.5 million tonnes of green ammonia per year for export.

If built as planned, the facility would represent the world’s largest green hydrogen project. It will be located in Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea coast, a key hub for Saudi Arabia’s hydrogen ambitions.

Acwa intends to take final investment decision in 2026, with the project’s first phase expected to be online in 2030. European energy firms Edison, TotalEnergies, ZheroEurope, and EnBW are exploring the demand and feasibility of exporting large volumes of green hydrogen from Saudi Arabia to Europe.

Driss Berraho, Acwa’s head of green hydrogen business development, said the deal with Topsoe “strengthens” potential hydrogen trade between low-cost production regions with demand centres.

Questions about the feasibility of large-scale green hydrogen export projects persist. Air Products, the one-third owner and sole offtaker of green ammonia for the 2.2GW Neom green hydrogen project, has shifted its plans amid low European demand.

The industrial gas major originally planned to sell hydrogen molecules from Neom into European markets.

However, with the project set to begin producing 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia per year in 2027, the company does not have a green hydrogen customer until 2030, when a deal with TotalEnergies – representing 45% of Neom’s output – enters force.

Now it is exploring a deal with fertiliser major Yara, which would see Yara offtake green ammonia and sell it on a commission basis. Air Products claimed the arrangement could “eliminate” its volume risk.