Insider Brief
- The PtX Development Fund has awarded €30 million to HydroJeel, a subsidiary of INNOVX, for the Jorf Hydrogen Platform in Morocco, marking its second approved grant to support green hydrogen initiatives in emerging economies.
- The Jorf Hydrogen Platform aims to produce 100,000 tons of green ammonia annually by 2026, with plans for a total of one million tons by 2027 and three million tons by 2032, significantly reducing Morocco’s carbon emissions.
- The PtX Development Fund, with €270 million in total funding, has opened a second call for applications, encouraging more projects to apply by March 5, 2025, as part of its mission to drive global green hydrogen adoption.
PRESS RELEASE – The PtX Development Fund1 for the promotion of hydrogen projects in developing and emerging economies has approved its second grant, and closed its first call for expressions of interest. HydroJeel, a business of INNOVX, will receive €30 million for the Jorf Hydrogen Platform, located in the coastal regions of the Kingdom of Morocco. The second call for expressions of interest opened in January and is expected to close on 5 March 2025.
KGAL Investment Management GmbH & Co KG, the fund manager mandated by KfW, had intensively reviewed a total of 98 expressions of interest from seven countries. The grant agreement with HydroJeel was officially signed on 12th February, 2025 in Casablanca in the presence of His Excellencies Robert Dölger Ambassador of Germany in the Kingdom of Morocco and Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretay of German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (via video), Amine Houssaim, CEO of HydroJeel and INNOVX as well as representatives of the KfW office in Rabat and executives from the bank’s headquarters.
The PtX Development Fund,1 initiated by the BMZ and endowed with €270 million, is part of KfW’s PtX Platform for promoting hydrogen projects in the global South. It will provide the Jorf Hydrogen Platform with a €30 million non-refundable grant. The project exemplifies the objectives of the PtX Development Fund, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and transitioning to clean energy production, contributing to the achievement of ambitious national and international climate goals. It will also improve cost structures and resilience by reducing Morocco’s dependence on fossil energy vectors. In addition, the project expects to see a scaling effect based on these outcomes.
A project with a significant local impact
Hydrojeel developed the Jorf Hydrogen Platform on behalf of the OCP Group. In its Jorf Industrial Park facility at the port of Jorf-El Jadida, it aims to produce 100,000 tons of green ammonia per year by the end of 2026. The project anticipates an annual reduction of around 300,000 teq of CO2 equivalent*.
The industrial project will also support the local economy by creating reliable jobs, developing new value chains and initiating a technological cooperation with local research and educational institutes.
The project foresees wind and solar power from newly built plants to produce green hydrogen, which will then be transformed into green ammonia for use in fertilizer production.
OCP Group’s ambitious initiative targets ramping up production to reach in total one million tons of green ammonia by 2027 and three million by 2032. In the initial phase, OCP Group will offtake the entire output for green fertilizer production. This will allow Morocco to reduce its reliance on imported grey fertilizer and help it transition to a fully renewable energy base for domestic fertilizer production.
“The Jorf Hydrogen Platform project impresses with a solid concept from an innovative project developer. HydroJeel will use state-of-the-art methods and all the risks – from development to offtake – have been considerably minimized,” explains Thomas Engelmann, Managing Director of the PtX Development Fund and Head of Energy Transition at KGAL.
“The HydroJeel team prioritized the social and environmental impact of Jorf Hydrogen Platform and this convinced us that it was the right project to support.“ adds KfW Principal Portfolio Manager Florian Ziegler.
“This grant is a recognition of HydroJeel’s expertise in green hydrogen solutions and a significant step forward in our journey. The Jorf Hydrogen Platform project reflects our commitment to driving sustainable energy practices while positioning Morocco as a regional leader in green hydrogen
solutions, powering industries and playing an active role in the energy transition.” said Amine Houssaim, CEO of HydroJeel and INNOVX.
A profound socio-ecological transformation of the Moroccan industry
Morocco is undertaking a profound and comprehensive transition of the mining and fertilizer industry to renewable resources, opening new value chains for green ammonia based on green hydrogen. The Jorf Hydrogen Platform project contributes to energy independence, while also addressing a critical aspect of the country’s journey towards climate neutrality. Furthermore, Morocco aims to become the first country in the world to undertake the complete procurement of green ammonia. This illustrates how local business models and value chains can go hand in hand with the energy transition and the socio-ecological transformation of the economy.
Morocco is among the selected countries as eligible for the PtX Development Fund
Morocco was selected for the PtX grant due to its ideal geographical conditions for renewable energy, its potential for green hydrogen production, and its ambitious and transparent economic strategies for hydrogen. The country offers significant opportunities for establishing green economic sectors and promoting local value creation. Additionally, existing priorities of German cooperation align well with Morocco’s goals, creating synergies and complementary opportunities.
PtX Development Fund opens its second call for expressions of interest
KGAL’s experts were impressed by the large number of expressions of interest received through the first call for expression of interest, which resulted in grants totaling €60 million. Building up on this success, the PtX Development Fund launched the second round of funding applications on 8 January 2025. Interested parties can visit https://www.ptx-fund.com for information and submit their documents.
1 Power-to-X D&G GmbH registered in Frankfurt am Main.
*Compared to Grey Ammonia Consumption
