The government of Morocco has recently signed a declaration of cooperation with Portugal with a view to beginning the necessary bases to develop the partnership in the green hydrogen sector. Morocco is banking on international cooperation for the exploitation of this renewable energy source.
The cooperation declaration was signed by a video conference between Aziz Rabbah, the Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mines and Sustainable Development, and Joao Pedro Matos Fernandes, the Portuguese Minister of the Environment. This was done in the presence of the Moroccan ambassadors in Lisbon and his Portuguese counterpart in Rabat. The 2 parties thus want to bolster their cooperation in order to lay the necessary foundations for developing the partnership in the green hydrogen sector.
“Both the ministers have committed to strengthening bilateral cooperation and aligning the green hydrogen priorities in Morocco and Portugal with the decarbonisation strategies linked to the Paris Agreement, as well as encouraging the commercial demand for green hydrogen”, said Badr Ikken, Director General of the Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies who had also took part in the online ceremony.
According to the same source, the conference enabled Minister Aziz Rabbah to present Morocco’s progress which is notably reflected in the setting up of the Green Hydrogen & Ammonia Park which is a platform that targets to be a national, regional and continental (Africa) reference in terms of research and development, as well as innovation dealing with subjects related to the green hydrogen sector. The platform is set up by Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies in partnership with the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
Morocco has also set up the National Hydrogen Commission since year 2019, making the kingdom a pioneer on the continental level in terms of research and development of green hydrogen on the African continent. This commission targets to bolster Morocco’s strategy in the development of renewable energies, and ensure its energy independence and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Cherifian kingdom is also betting on international cooperation as it has just proved with Portugal.
The partnership with Germany
Rabat is also developing a partnership with Germany. Overall, the target of this cooperation is the development of green hydrogen between the 2 parties, but above all to implement the “Power-to-X” project proposed by the Moroccan Solar Energy Agency for the production of green hydrogen and the setting up of a research platform on this energy source.