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France + Morocco ink several clean energy agreements: French companies signed at least EUR 10 bn-worth of agreements to invest in Morocco’s clean energy and infrastructure sectors on Monday and Tuesday during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the country, France24 reports. Macron led a high-level French delegation including French cabinet members and business representatives. Here’s what we know so far:
#1- Up to EUR 3.5 bn in renewables: French energy giant Engie and the Moroccan Phosphates Office signed an agreement to invest up to EUR 3.5 bn in renewable energy projects, according to France24. No details about the specific projects, investment ticket breakdowns, or projected timelines were disclosed.
#2- Renewable-powered seawater desalination plant: France’s Veolia Environment and the Moroccan Interior Minister signed a protocol agreement to build a large-scale seawater desalination plant in Rabat. The plant is planned to have an annual capacity of 300 mn cubic meters of drinking water and to depend mainly on renewable energy sources, MAP reports. Veolia reportedly committed to producing water at a cost of MAD 4.5 per cubic meter. No details about the finances or the exact share of renewable power to be used were announced.
#3- Sustainable agriculture also had a share: OCP Nutricrops –– a subsidiary of Moroccan fertilizer giant OCP Group –– Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), food production company Intercéréales France, and French agricultural research organization Arvalis have signed an MoU to collaborate on agronomy research and advancing sustainable agriculture, Morocco World News reports. The partnership will reportedly focus on research in soil health, precision agriculture, water management, and climate adaptation.
#4- France’s TotalEnergies also signed an agreement to explore a major renewable hydrogen and ammonia project in Morocco, targeting possible export to Europe, Reuters reports.
REMEMBER- Algeria is also being tapped for hydrogen: Algeria’s Sonatrach recently signed an MoU with Germany’s VNG, Italy’s Snam and Sea Corridor, and Austria’s Verbund to conduct feasibility studies for the implementation of the SoutH2 Corridor pipeline. Sonatrach also signed an MoU with Mubadala-owned Spanish oil refiner Cepsa to jointly explore establishing a project to produce green hydrogen and its derivatives in Algeria.
TotalEnergies + Engie are active in Morocco: TotalEnergies –– alongside the US’s General Electric, Abu Dhabi’s Taqa, and infrastructure provider and developer Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) –– is backing the 3.8k km interconnection project linking Morocco with the UK. Engie also operates a 300 MW wind park in Tarfaya and has been building a desalination plant powered by a new wind farm in Western Sahara’s Dakhla. The desalination plant — set to be operational after the wind park’s completion next year — will allocate 90% of its water for irrigation and 10% for drinking water in Dakhla.
