The government of Morocco in a charm offensive bid to woo investors to build green hydrogen production facilities in the country has announced an initiative to allocate about 1 million hectares to green hydrogen projects, among the many other incentives in the its plans.
Morocco’s Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch released a statement released on Monday outlining that the land will be released in phases, with 300,000 hectares being released in the first phase.
The Moroccan Prime Minister highlighted that an estimated 100 investors have already expressed interest in producing green hydrogen in Morocco.
Morocco says it will offer the land in the form of plots ranging in various sizes from 10,000 to 30,000 hectares, and also according to the size of the expected projects. The government says it will offer the land “within a contractual framework” that ensures proper use of public land.
The announcement follows the instruction by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI in November 2022 where he instructed the government to put forward a Moroccan green hydrogen offer “to make sure the requirements of quality are observed, to leverage our country’s significant potential in this regard, and to meet the expectations of leading global investors in this promising field.”
Morocco’s green hydrogen opportunity
Morocco boasts an abundance of solar and wind energy resources. The North African country is hoping the land allocation initiative will help it reach its ambitions to start producing green hydrogen for domestic use as well as export to foreign markets.
Green hydrogen could help decarbonise various industries including the maritime, mining, cement production, transport and aviation. The fuel is produced by splitting water through electrolysis using renewable energy.
“Green hydrogen is expected to be a key energy vector and one of the main drivers of the energy transition and sustainable growth in the Kingdom, under the wise leadership of His Majesty the King. This emerging sector will also be a turning point for Morocco’s economy in light of economic, social, environmental and technological challenges,” said Prime Minister and Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch.
“In this context, “Morocco Offer” applies to integrated projects ranging from the generation of electricity from renewable energies and electrolysis, to the conversion of green hydrogen, ammonia, methanol and synthetic fuels, as well as related logistics,” added Akhannouch.
