One Million Hectares of Moroccan Land Earmarked for Hydrogen Projects

The Moroccan government have promised up to one million hectares of land for green hydrogen projects, starting with an initial 300,000 hectares available to developers.

In a statement from the office of Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, the land, which equates to 10,000 square kilometres, will allow Morocco to: “Play a major role in the field of energy transition globally.”

Morocco’s initial offer of 300,000 hectares, or 3,000 square kilometres, will be subdivided into lots of between 100 and 300 square kilometres.

Integrated projects covering electricity generation from renewable energies and electrolysis, to the conversion of green hydrogen into ammonia, methanol and synthetic fuel, will be eligible for the offer, but no further detail has been given on how the land will be allocated.

The statement said that the offtake would be for both domestic use and export, and also alluded to extra incentives to investments, but did not elaborate on this.

Nearly 100 investors, both domestic and international, are said to have already expressed an interest in the offer.

Thanks to an abundance of natural resources including strong wind and solar potential, as well as its strategic geographic position, Morocco could become a key player in the global hydrogen market, with potential to export to Europe via gas pipeline.