Morocco is launching a prospecting mission bringing together the various players in the national ecosystem in order to accelerate the process of its strategy on green hydrogen.
On the initiative of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Morocco, is being held this week in Rotterdam, on the sidelines of the World Hydrogen Summit 2022 under the objective of developing new partnerships in order to seize the opportunities offered by this new sector of the energy transition, which is generating worldwide enthusiasm.
Morocco is active in the deployment of green hydrogen, the keystone of the ecological transition of the energy and industrial sectors. This new source completes other important achievements related to renewable energies, in particular solar and wind power.
Launched in 2021, the national strategy for this sector aims to create an economic and industrial sector around green molecules, in particular hydrogen, ammonia and methanol, by 2050. “The beginnings of this new stage have been marked by the development of several projects, in parallel with the national green hydrogen strategy, such as the creation of the Moroccan GreenH2 Cluster and the Green H2A platform, which trace the value chain of green hydrogen and its applications” , says Samir Rachidi, acting director general of Iresen and secretary general of GreenH2 Morocco.
The latter explains that the roadmap for this cluster, bringing together all the players in the ecosystem, is being created to identify the priority projects to be implemented.
This new trend, which is sparking global cooperation, presents significant opportunities, as hydrogen can serve as a feedstock, fuel, energy carrier and storage solution, with numerous applications in industry sectors. , transport, electricity and construction.
In this sense, a prospecting mission bringing together the various actors of the Moroccan ecosystem, on the initiative of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Morocco, is being held this week in Rotterdam, on the sidelines of the “World Hydrogen Summit & Exhibition 2022 “. Its objective is to develop new partnerships in order to seize the opportunities offered by green hydrogen, which is generating worldwide enthusiasm.
Many project leaders are interested in Morocco
Samir Rachidi indicates that “the sector is very large and is not yet on the scale we want in terms of size at the global level, so it is not yet competitive. The decade 2020-2030 will be the decade of priming this economy, something that will require a lot of subsidies and partnerships on an international scale”.
Morocco can position itself as a deployment center for this new sector of energy transition. ” Like what has been done in the automotive or aeronautical sectors, the Kingdom could establish areas dedicated to each of the links in this sector, with the key to appropriate infrastructures and regulations, as well as human capital. trained in different fields »he said.
Currently, many project leaders are interested in Morocco because of its achievements in renewable energies and the significant potential it has in this area.“The best sites for the development of this sector are in the southern provinces of the Kingdom, namely Guelmim-Oued Noun, Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Eddahab, where we have very good solar and wind resources. These natural resources make it possible to offer one kilogram of hydrogen among the cheapest in the world”he assured.
These projects could generate a capacity of between 20 and 50 gigawatts (GW) in the long term, which would allow Morocco to reach a critical size to go beyond the export of green molecules and capture industry locally throughout the value chain.
“We have time to get organized and put in place the necessary investments to interest the major international groups in settling in Morocco. We can develop win-win alliances and position ourselves as an African green hydrogen hub”he concludes.
