US backs $4.5bn Morocco ammonia plant

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has signed a $5.7 million grant agreement with Morocco-based joint venture ORNX Laayoune 1 SASU (ORNX) to fund a pre-front end engineering and design (pre-FEED) study for a large-scale green ammonia plant in Laayoune, southern Morocco, the two parties said on 28 July. The Laayoune project has a total estimated cost of $4.5 billion.

ORNX is a consortium of US-based Ortus Climate Mitigation LLC and Acciona-Nordex Green Hydrogen, a Spanish-German joint venture between Acciona and Nordex. The consortium was selected in March 2025 under Morocco’s national “Offre Maroc” green hydrogen programme to develop wind- and solar-powered green hydrogen and ammonia facilities at Laayoune, Dakhla and Boujdour. The Laayoune plant is expected to draw on more than 2 GW of on-site renewable capacity to produce around 100,000 t/y of green hydrogen, which will be converted into up to 560,000 t/y of green ammonia for export.