World’s largest phosphate-based fertilizer maker
shifts to solar
Morocco-based rock miner OCP secured financing to build two solar PV
plants totaling 400 MW from the International Finance Corporation,
with the twin facilities located near the mining towns of Benguerir
and Khouribga – home of the country’s most phosphate-rich reserves.
A phosphate mineImage: Wikimedia
Commons
Morocco-based state-owned phosphate rock miner OCP Group intends
to power mining operations with solar power at two sites in the
northwest African country.
The company said in a statement it inked a €100 million ($106.0
million) contractual loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC),
with the money going towards partially funding the construction of
€360 million twin solar PV plants located in the mining towns of
Benguerir and Khouribga.
The projects are expected to have a combined capacity of 400 MW and to
be linked with 100 MWh of battery storage. The two solar plants will
provide energy to the unspecified mine's operations.
OCP group chairman and CEO, Mostafa Terrab, said the agreement is a
“major milestone” towards the company achieving its target of 100%
renewable energy in fertilizer production by 2027.
OCP's first started mining Khouribga for phosphate – a common
fertilizer ingredient – in 1921, and touts the Benguerir open-pit mine
as one of its most important research facilities in the country.
Together, these towns form the Gantour system, which is the
third-largest phosphate mine in the world.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, allocated its first green loan
– financing offered to projects with a positive environmental impact –
to OCP Group in April for the mining company's 1.2 GW solar program,
which consists of four solar power plants.
A spokesperson from OCP Group told pv
magazine France in April that
construction of the projects was expected to start at the end of that
month, with a building permit granted at the end of 2022.
OCP Group, one of the largest phosphate and fertiliser companies in
the world, is expected to convert its operations to exclusively
“green” energy by 2027, the announcement states.
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