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.

ORNX has selected a US consortium led by Kellogg Brown & Root LLC (KBR) and including GE Vernova, Electric Hydrogen (EH2) and Terabase Energy to carry out the pre-FEED study. KBR will lead the engineering and process integration; GE Vernova will handle grid connection and power conversion; Terabase Energy will design the solar infrastructure; and EH2’s electrolyzer technology will be assessed as part of the work. The study will also cover a seawater desalination plant using reverse osmosis to supply ultra-pure water for electrolysis, marine facilities, environmental and regulatory assessment, and a 25-year financial model covering the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen and Levelized Cost of Ammonia.

“Morocco has made ammonia production a top national priority. When our allies are making generational infrastructure decisions, USTDA is proud to partner with U.S. industry to demonstrate the best of what America has to offer,” said Thomas R. Hardy, Deputy Director of USTDA.

Peter A. Gish, Chief Executive of ORNX, said: “This funding will allow us to complete the pre-FEED studies with our partners KBR, GE Vernova, Electric Hydrogen, and Terabase, driving both the technical and commercial development of the project as we accelerate toward the FEED and Final Investment Decisions.”