Billionaire Adani wants to target Europe with huge Morocco clean energy project

Gautam Adani, Asia’s richest person, is in exploratory talks for a huge renewable energy project in Morocco that would aim to bring electricity and zero-emission fuel to Europe.

Adani’s coal-to-ports conglomerate is considering building wind and solar power plants in the North African nation, as well as facilities to produce green hydrogen for export, according to people familiar with the proposals, who asked not to be identified to discuss private details, Bloomberg reports.

The project, which would be Adani’s largest clean energy development outside of India, could be as large as 10 gigawatts, according to one of the people. That would be nearly equal to Morocco’s existing installed power generation capacity, which totals about 2.8 gigawatts of wind and solar, according to BloombergNEF data.

The development would be delivered in two stages of 5 gigawatts and includes plans to supply electricity locally and export some of the electricity directly to Europe, one of the people said. As part of the proposals, Adani is also in talks with Morocco’s state-owned OCP group, according to another person, about selling hydrogen, which the fertilizer maker could use as a feedstock to produce carbon-free ammonia.

Adani did not reply to an email. Morocco’s Energy Ministry, its fertilizer maker OCP, and state renewable energy agency Masen also did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

Shares of Adani Green gained 3.6% this week, its biggest gain in two months, and beat the benchmark index’s 2.4% gain.

Given technological advances, it could be years before green hydrogen is exported to Europe. A 4 GW green hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia is set to last four years.

Nations in North Africa and parts of the Middle East are increasingly being identified as potential major green hydrogen hubs due to their plentiful sunshine and wind, as well as proximity to key export markets, including Europe. In July, India-based ReNew Energy Global signed an initial pact to build an $8 billion green hydrogen project in Egypt.

Adani aims to make his empire the world’s largest producer of clean energy by the end of the decade, but it continues to invest heavily in fossil fuels. With a strong focus on developing a green hydrogen sector, he sees zero-emission fuel as key to enabling the decarbonization of heavy industry in India and overseas.

Competitors like Reliance Industries Ltd. of billionaire Mukesh Ambani and India’s state-owned energy giants such as NTPC Ltd. and Indian Oil Corp. also want to be among the leading advocates of clean fuel.