An international consortium led by South Korea's top steel maker Posco Holdings Inc. has won a project to develop and build a large-scale green hydrogen plant in Oman, Posco Holdings said Thursday.

The deal, signed between the consortium and Hydrogen Oman in the Omani capital of Muscat a day earlier, calls for building a green hydrogen plant with an annual capacity of 220,000 tons in Duqm, some 450 kilometers southwest of the Omani capital.

The six-company consortium will construct a 5-gigawatt power plant using solar power and other renewable energy sources, and an ammonia production factory on a 340-square-kilometer site, Posco Holdings said.

Ground will be broken for the envisioned plants in 2027 for completion in 2030, with the total cost, estimated at billions of dollars, to be finalized after a feasibility study, it said.

It marks the largest overseas green hydrogen project ever pushed by South Korean companies, Posco holdings added.

Green, or clean, hydrogen refers to hydrogen that is produced using electricity generated from renewable energy without emitting carbon.

The consortium includes Samsung Engineering Co., Korea Southern Power Co., Korea East-West Power Corp., French energy firm ENGIE and Thailand's state-run petroleum exploration and production firm PTTEP.

Posco Holdings owns the largest stake in the consortium at 28 percent, followed by ENGIE with 25 percent. Samsung Engineering, Korea Southern Power and Korea East-West Power have a 12 percent interest, respectively, with PTTEP holding the remaining 11 percent.

Posco Holdings has been ramping up efforts to secure a stable supply source of hydrogen in line with its plan to convert its carbon-based steelmaking system to one based on hydrogen reduction.

To that end, Posco Holdings aims to have an annual hydrogen production capacity of 7 million tons by 2050. (Yonhap)