The Qatari-based clean energy developer, Green Sky Capital, is looking to spearhead a $239 million green aviation fuel plant in Africa’s largest manufacturing country, Morocco.
- Green Sky Capital plans to build a $239 million sustainable aviation fuel plant in Morocco's Nador Province.
- The project aims to produce 176,000–200,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel annually using waste-based oils and fats.
- Funding includes $105 million secured financing from EBRD and up to $20 million from the Green Climate Fund.
- The plant will use Axens’ Vegan HEFA technology, one of the most established methods for SAF production.
The project, which plans to draw funding from an agreement currently under review at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), will stand as one of the first commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel plants in the North African country, once completed.
Details from the EBRD show that the Bétoya Industrial and Logistic Zone of the Nador West Med (NWM) Complex, in Nador Province in the country’s north-eastern Oriental Region, will serve as the location for the fuel plant.
The bank intends to provide around $105 million in senior secured financing, comprising an $85 million committed loan and a further $20 million that remains uncommitted.
The proposed financing could include up to $20 million from the Green Climate Fund through its High Impact Programme for the Corporate Sector.
The total cost of the project, as mentioned earlier, comes in at $239 million.
The planned facility is expected to turn out between 176,000 and 200,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) annually.
Its output will also include renewable diesel, renewable naphtha and limited volumes of bio-propane. Production will use Axens’ licensed Vegan HEFA technology, a process identified in project documents as one of the most commercially established methods for manufacturing SAF.
The plant will use waste-based oils and fats instead of crude feedstocks, as reported by MoroccoWorldNews.
These will mainly consist of used cooking oil, animal fats and by-products from food processing and edible-oil refining.
To sustain operations, the facility will need approximately 200,000 tonnes of feedstock each year. Supplies will comprise used cooking oil collected locally, alongside imported used cooking oil and soap-stock acid oil.
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Domestic deliveries will be transported by road tanker, while imported feedstocks will enter through the NWM Port.
As for job opportunities, the construction phase is projected to bring in up to 400 workers at its busiest point, while about 162 employees are expected to run the facility after it becomes operational.
The project is scheduled to take approximately 22 months, beginning with the contract award in October 2026 and culminating in the plant’s planned start-up in August 2028.
Workers brought in from outside the area will be housed in surrounding communities, including Nador, Selouane, and Beni Ensar, as the project does not provide on-site accommodation for the workers.