Emirati national energy company to invest $10bn into 6GW Moroccan green hydrogen project
TAQA is planning to build the gigawatt-scale H2 facility in Western Sahara
Abu Dhabi’s national energy company TAQA is planning to invest via its Moroccan subsidiary 100 billion Moroccan dirhams ($10bn) on a 6GW green hydrogen project, according to Arabic-language news site Asharq Business with Bloomberg.
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The project will reportedly be located in the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region, which is geographically situated in Western Sahara — considered a “non-self-governing territory” by the United Nations. However, Morocco lists Dakhla-Oued Eddahab as one of its twelve administrative regions, based on a 1979 pledge of allegiance from local representatives to the kingdom.
An anonymous source at Morocco’s Ministry of Investment told Asharq that the region has attracted several projects, with a combined value of 220 billion dirhams.
This includes the 8GW White Dunes project, which is expected to cost around $2bn, which Moroccan investment holding firm Falcon Capital Dakhla and French developer HDF Energy launched in November last year.
Beyond Dakhla, TotalEnergies’ subsidiary Total Eren had bought 170,000 hectares of land in the Guelmim-Oued Noun administrative region from the Moroccan government for a 100 billion dirham project drawing on 10GW of wind and solar energy.
Developer CWP Global has also floated plans to build a large-scale renewable ammonia facility, with 15GW of wind and solar, in the region’s city of Tan-Tan.
However, many of these facilities are still at an early stage of development, with international companies holding back on final investment decisions until the government’s so-called “Hydrogen Offer” is released.