- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is providing a €100 million loan to the OCP Group (formerly Office chérifien des phosphates).
- The financing is intended to support the construction of four solar photovoltaic plants to power the group’s operations in Morocco.
To lower production costs and the carbon impact of its activities in Morocco, OCP Group (previously Office Chérifien des Phosphates) is relying on solar energy. The producer of phosphate fertilizer signed a credit agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on the margins of the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C.
According to the agreement, the private sector financing arm of the World Bank Group would provide 100 million euros in funding for the development of four solar photovoltaic power plants to feed OCP Group facilities in Morocco.
The facilities, which will have a total capacity of 202 MWp, will be constructed close to the mining towns of Khouribga, 120 km southeast of Casablanca, and Benguerir, in the Rehamna region. These solar photovoltaic facilities are being constructed by the Casablanca-based company as part of its strategy to completely meet all of its electricity needs with wind, solar, and cogeneration (recovery of thermal energy emitted during the production of sulfuric acid) by 2027.
To support it in its energy transformation, the group formed a new firm in 2022 as part of this goal. The four solar power plants will be built by OCP Green Energy, as it is known, with help from an IFC loan. This project is also part of the $13 billion Green Investment Program to decarbonize phosphate production by 2030.
OCP Group estimates that this renewable energy plan will prevent the annual emissions of 285,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2). The organization also has the resources necessary to realize its goals because the Moroccan government owns it to a 95% stake. The OCP Group, one of the biggest exporters of phosphate fertilizers, phosphoric acid, and raw phosphate in the world, anticipates sales of 114.57 billion Moroccan dirhams (10.25 billion euros) in 2022, a 36% increase from 2021.
OCP Group estimates that this renewable energy plan will prevent the annual emissions of 285,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2). The organisation also has the resources necessary to realize its goals because the Moroccan government owns it to a 95% stake. The OCP Group, one of the biggest exporters of phosphate fertilizers, phosphoric acid, and raw phosphate in the world, anticipates sales of 114.57 billion Moroccan dirhams (10.25 billion euros) in 2022, a 36% increase from 2021.