German Fund Backs 100,000-ton Green Ammonia Project in Morocco

Morocco plans to reach one million tons of green ammonia production by 2027 and three million tons by 2032, reducing imported grey fertilizer dependence.

Doha – Morocco’s green hydrogen ambitions received a significant boost as German-based KGAL Investment Management and KfW approved a €30 million non-refundable grant to support a new green ammonia project in Jorf-El Jadida.

The grant, awarded through the PtX Development Fund, will support Hydrojeel’s Jorf Hydrogen Platform project, which aims to produce 100,000 tons of green ammonia annually by the end of 2026.

The initiative, developed on behalf of OCP Group, was selected from 98 expressions of interest across seven countries.

“Hydrojeel will use state-of-the-art methods, and all the risks – from development to offtake – have been considerably minimised,” said Thomas Engelmann, Managing Director of the PtX Development Fund and Head of Energy Transition at KGAL.

The project, which will be located in the Jorf Industrial Park facility at the port of Jorf-El Jadida, will utilize wind and solar power from newly constructed plants to produce green hydrogen, which will then be converted into ammonia for fertilizer production.

OCP Group will initially use the entire output for domestic green fertilizer production.

The initiative is part of OCP Group’s broader strategy to achieve one million tons of green ammonia production by 2027 and three million by 2032, aimed at reducing Morocco’s dependence on imported grey fertilizers.

The BMZ-launched PtX Development Fund, with its €270 million budget, supports KfW’s PtX Platform to advance hydrogen projects in the Global South.

The first round of funding resulted in €60 million of total grants, with a second round currently open until March 5.

This development follows earlier progress in Morocco’s green hydrogen sector. In early February, H2 Global Energy announced the completion of initial studies for a separate green hydrogen and ammonia plant in southern Morocco.

That project aims to produce one million metric tons of green ammonia annually, utilizing the country’s solar and wind resources to support various sectors including agriculture, transportation, and energy storage.