Morocco Plans Green Hydrogen Plant to Boost Renewable Energy Portfolio

According to Mohamed Benyahya, Secretary General of the Environment Department at the Ministry of Energy, "this energy is still underexploited, but it can contribute to the decarbonization of the national economy". During the virtual Power2X Summit organized this week by IRESEN in collaboration with the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, the expert noted that green hydrogen is important within the framework of the 2050 Low-Carbon Development Strategy. In a statement to La Vie Eco, the specialist affirms that the contribution of the industry in the production of green energy will develop exponentially between 2020 and 2030, and beyond. "This is where hydrogen will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions," he specifies.

The Secretary General explains that phosphates, in particular green ammonia for the production of fertilizers and cement, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 26%. As for electricity production, it will represent 30% of the efforts to reduce emissions by 2050. Moreover, hydrogen also helps to improve air quality to reduce the losses caused by atmospheric degradation.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed by Morocco and Germany to promote Power2X technologies in the Kingdom and build the first green hydrogen production unit in Africa. In this context, the Fraunhofer Institute, a partner of the Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies Research (Iresen), is currently building a pilot plant to produce green ammonia in partnership with the OCP Group and the Iresen’s Green Energy Park platform.

This industry produces four tons of hydrogen per day and plans to carry out technical and economic tests on two electrolysis and ammonia synthesis technologies. It aims to enable the OCP Group to meet part of its ammonia demand, which is part of the manufacturing process for several fertilizers.