The Moroccan government has extended land allocation offers and streamlined approvals processes to the developers of four new ammonia projects in the country’s south.
H2 Global Energy and its development partners are progressing a range of renewable hydrogen and derivatives projects across the Middle Eastern and North Africa region, including renewable ammonia mega-projects in Jordan and Egypt.
UAE-Moroccan developer Dahamco is planning a $25 billion, multi-million ton per year renewable ammonia project at the Port of Dhakla on Morocco’s Atlantic coast. The first phase will feature an investment of $4 billion and produce nearly one million tons of ammonia per year.
TotalEnergies, Eren, CIP and A.P. Moller have launched a large-scale renewable energy project which will feature solar-powered electrolytic hydrogen and ammonia production in the Guelmim-Oued Noun region near the Atlantic coast in Morocco. State-owned fertiliser giant OCP Group has also signed agreements with Engie, Bpifrance and the French Development Agency to develop renewable projects and sustainable agriculture in Morocco.
The joint venture between Fortescue and OCP will supply hydrogen, ammonia and fertiliser to the Moroccan market and beyond. Meanwhile in Australia, Fortescue’s recently opened electrolyser production facility will produce 2 GW of PEM electrolysers per year.
OCP Group will build a $7 billion ammonia production facility near Tarfaya in Morocco's south. Powered by 3.8 GW of wind and solar energy, 200,000 tonnes per year of renewable ammonia will be produced from 2026, rising to 3 million tonnes per year from 2032.
State-owned enterprise China Energy has announced new ammonia initiatives in three countries, with a reported budget of $20 billion to invest outside China over the next few years. A partnership with Petrobras in Brazil, construction of a new renewable ammonia mega-project in Morocco, and a construction start date for a renewable ammonia plant next to the Suez Canal in Egypt have all been announced in the last few weeks.
In a ceremony before King Mohammed VI of Morocco, OCP Group presented a new, green investment plan for 2023-27. The $13 billion plan will see OCP install 5 GW of renewable energy by 2027, completely powering their fertiliser manufacturing operations. A production target of one million tonnes per year renewable ammonia (also by 2027) will see OCP make serious headway into replacing its ammonia imports into Morocco with locally-made feedstock, improving food & energy security.
In our November episode of Ammonia Project Features we explored two gigawatt-sized ammonia production projects in Northwest Africa: AMUN (Morocco) and AMAN (Mauritania). Nouri Chahid (CWP Global) presented project details, while Lloyd Pinnell (Systemiq) explored the socio-economic impacts of AMAN in Mauritania. If developed in the right way, AMAN could provide potable water, access to cheap renewable electricity, significant local employment & education opportunities, as well as the opportunity to build institutions to best manage new economic windfalls.