Written By: Faith Jemosop
While headlines focus on Europe’s energy transition or China’s solar dominance, something significant is quietly happening in North Africa. Morocco just greenlit a $2M pilot project with Swedish firm Metacon to produce green hydrogen directly from wind turbines off-grid. No PR fanfare. No global headlines. Just execution.
And that’s exactly why you should pay attention.
This isn’t just about a single deal. It’s about a strategy unfolding with long-term geopolitical implications. If it works, Morocco won’t just power itself. It could power Europe.
A Bold Move in a Quiet Revolution
On March 19, 2025, Metacon announced it had secured a contract to deliver a 1 MW pressurized alkaline electrolysis plant to one of Morocco’s largest renewable energy investors, an entity with over 2,000 MW in assets.
The goal?
To generate green hydrogen using wind power alone, a critical first step toward producing not just hydrogen, but green ammonia and synthetic fuels (e-fuels) at scale.
What makes this project unique isn’t the tech, it’s the integration model. It’s direct coupling of wind turbines to alkaline electrolyzers, with no dependency on a centralized power grid. This is decentralized, scalable, and export-ready.
Why Morocco?
Morocco isn’t new to renewables. It’s already home to Noor Ouarzazate, one of the world’s largest solar power stations. Wind farms stretch along its 3,500 km coastline. And its energy strategy is aligned with the EU’s Green Deal and Hydrogen Strategy.
In fact, Morocco is one of the few non-EU nations listed in the EU’s hydrogen import roadmap.
Its advantage?
- Location: Proximity to Spain and France makes hydrogen exports viable via undersea cables and pipelines.
- Infrastructure: Partnerships like the Xlinks Morocco–UK Power Project already aim to deliver clean power directly to the UK.
- Vision: Morocco aims to generate 52% of its electricity from renewables by 2030.
And now, hydrogen is the next frontier.
Africa’s Green Hydrogen Playbook
What this pilot signals is Africa’s potential role in the global hydrogen economy. If successful, it opens doors for:
- Export agreements with Europe under green certification standards
- Industrial-scale production of hydrogen derivatives like green ammonia and methanol
- Domestic applications in fertilizer production, transportation, and grid balancing
Global giants are already watching. In 2024, Engie and Morocco’s OCP signed a multi-billion euro deal to invest in renewables and hydrogen.
This isn’t just policy. It’s capital in motion.
The Bigger Question: Can Africa Leapfrog?
Africa has often been framed as a passive recipient in global energy conversations. But this narrative is changing.
With abundant sunlight, strong wind corridors, and vast unoccupied land, countries like Namibia, South Africa, Egypt, and now Morocco are laying the groundwork to leapfrog fossil-fueled development.
Green hydrogen offers a rare opportunity:
To produce a global commodity without polluting, without imports, and without waiting for traditional infrastructure.
Read also: Solar Energy Powers a Healthcare Revolution in Somalia
This is the next OPEC powered not by oil, but by renewables.
Morocco may not be on your radar yet, but it should be. This €1.82M deal isn’t just about hydrogen, it’s about momentum. It’s about who controls the next century of energy exports. And it may very well be decided in the deserts of North Africa.
