French developer HDF Energy in November announced plans to develop a multi-gigawatt green hydrogen project on Morocco’s southwest coast—delivering the latest international vote of confidence in the country’s prospects in the sector.

The north African kingdom—which has ideal climactic conditions and plentiful available land—is emerging as a hotspot for low-cost production and exports. 

The International Renewable Energy Agency believes Morocco could be the third lowest-cost producer of hydrogen by 2050 (at $0.7–1.4/kg), capturing around 4% of international export demand.

A recent study by UK-based consultancy Deloitte foresees North Africa becoming one of the two leading locations, alongside Australia, for production and exports of hydrogen and its derivatives by mid-century.

52% – 2030 target renewables share

The HDF scheme—dubbed White Dunes and to be developed in partnership with the local firm Falcon Capital—covers the phased construction, starting in 2025, of an 8GW plant in the far southern Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab region. The project would be based on 10GW of wind and 7GW of solar power, with first hydrogen production scheduled for 2028.

The Bordeaux-based firm has been working for two years with local fuel storage joint venture  Somas on a project to convert salt caverns on the Casablanca-Rabat axis for hydrogen storage.

Other developers are also lining up significant projects. In May, US-based CWP Global signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany’s Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies to conduct a feasibility study into exporting 500t/d of hydrogen from the former’s planned 15GW Amun green hydrogen plant in the southwestern Guelmim-Oued Noun region to Europe using the Bavaria-based firm’s liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology, an alternative to converting the output to ammonia or bunkering fuels. CWP has completed the feasibility on the 7GW first phase of the proposed Amun plant, due onstream in 2029, and the pre-feasibility study on the second, slated for startup in the early 2030s.

Earlier this year, Belgian engineering firm John Cockerill unveiled plans to establish an alkaline electrolyser gigafactory in Morocco, a project touted as the first of its kind in Africa.

L’Offre Maroc

The government is working hard to bolster the country’s allure to investors. It intends to unveil shortly ‘L’Offre Maroc’—an investment framework for prospective green hydrogen developers covering issues such as land allocation, respective responsibilities for infrastructure development and relationships with relevant government agencies.

The provisions will build on those enshrined two years ago in the Investment Charter, which offers state financial support of up to 30% of capital costs for projects in priority sectors, including clean energy, while also providing for the extension of tailored incentives for schemes worth over MAD2b ($198m) and deemed ‘strategic’ by dint of their potential impact on employment and energy security as well as their international economic influence. 

Forced to import over 90% of its fossil-fuel requirements, Rabat has already moved faster and further than its neighbours in developing its ample solar and wind resources—with renewables capacity of 3.7GW accounting for 38pc of the power mix by the end of 2022 and targeted to reach 52% by 2030.

A massive scale-up—to well over 100GW by 2050—would be required to meet the state’s green hydrogen ambitions but the resources are there given Morocco’s 2,500km coastline and the fact that 80% of land comprises sparsely populated near-desert. A World Bank Study published in 2020 placed Morocco in the top 20 potential solar PV producers globally, positioning it as a future green hydrogen powerhouse.

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Author: Clare Dunkley