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MEDI1TV Afrique : Green Hydrogen : Interview with Dwight Bush, former U.S ambassador to Morocco - 07/02/2026
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00:00Madame, Monsieur, bonsoir.
00:03Le Maroc accélère sa transition énergétique avec une ambition désormais clairement structurée.
00:09C'était mardi au Parlement.
00:11La ministre de la Transition énergétique annonce la sélection de six clusters
00:15chargés de porter sept projets initiaux d'hydrogène vert dans les provinces du Sud,
00:21représentant pas moins de 20 gigawatts de capacités renouvelables,
00:25intégrant ainsi la production de dérivés comme l'ammonia.
00:28Une dynamique portée par la vision stratégique de Sa Majesté le Roi Mohamed VI,
00:33visant à renforcer la souveraineté énergétique du Royaume et la compétitivité industrielle marocaine.
00:40Parmi ces clusters figure le consortium Ornix,
00:43qui réunit des acteurs américains, européens et industriels de premier plan.
00:47Pour en parler, notre invité réunit une expérience rare à la croisée de la diplomatie,
00:52de la stratégie et de la finance.
00:55Un homme d'affaires américain et ancien ambassadeur des États-Unis au Maroc,
00:59avec plus de 30 ans d'expérience dans la finance, dans la banque d'investissement ou encore le conseil stratégique.
01:06Bref, son parcours lui confère un regard privilégié sur l'articulation entre diplomatie économique,
01:11investissement international et grands projets structurants dans le domaine de l'énergie.
01:16Bonjour Monsieur Dwight Bush, merci d'être avec nous.
01:20Bonjour Khadija.
01:22So before we look ahead to green hydrogen and the future,
01:27let's take a step back, Mr. Bush,
01:30and look at the broader relationship between Morocco and the United States of America,
01:35as Morocco and the U.S. mark 250 years of friendship, if I might say, and relations.
01:43Is energy the next strategic pillar in this relationship?
01:48Well, thank you so much for having me Khadija.
01:50Oh, it was a pleasure.
01:51You know, this relationship is indeed a very long standing.
01:55As most people know, Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States of America.
02:00And on last Friday, I had the privilege of attending a celebration that was hosted by the Moroccan embassy in Washington, D.C.
02:08to talk about the long term strategic relationship that we have,
02:13how many different pillars there are in the relationship,
02:16whether it's our partnerships around commerce or energy, the development of civil society, commercial.
02:23It's a very broad and very strong relationship that I'm very pleased to have been able to work with for quite a while.
02:31For quite a while.
02:32While you were a diplomat here in Morocco, an ambassador serving here in Morocco and after,
02:37but there's a question about the relationship between Morocco and the U.S. since 2020,
02:44since the U.S. recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the Sahara.
02:49Have you seen a tangible shift in the business climate and the willingness of investors to,
02:59or their appetite in the southern provinces of Morocco?
03:04Yeah, well, first of all, I am so pleased to have had the President of the United States
03:10to make the announcement and recognize the sovereignty of Morocco over the Sahara.
03:15It's something that I was very much an advocate of when I was here as ambassador,
03:20and it's something that I think to be very important in our relationship.
03:24I think what it's done is to serve as a catalyst for an increased interest in commercial development in Morocco broadly,
03:33and also specifically in the Sahara.
03:36The project that I'm working on with ORNICS is a huge commitment.
03:41The first stage of this project will be over 1.5 billion U.S. dollars,
03:46which is really significant to support green hydrogen.
03:50It's my view that given the strategic relationship, given that we are working so closely on the issue with the Sahara,
03:59that there are other commercial interests that are lined up to think about doing business in Morocco that may not have been done, frankly,
04:07if we hadn't made the commitment to the region as well as our broader strategic commitment to Morocco.
04:12His Majesty the King set the vision for green hydrogen on his throne speech in July 2023.
04:22Can Morocco now deliver green hydrogen at scale, Mr. Dwight Bush?
04:27Well, let's step back a little bit further in my time coming here in 2014,
04:32when His Majesty had a vision for Morocco being the emerging economy that was most committed to renewable energy,
04:41the development of solar business, of wind business,
04:46the commitment that led to Morocco being the host of COP22,
04:51all speaks to, I think, a very well-developed strategy and orientation towards renewable energy.
04:59And His Majesty needs to be applauded as a country of this size making those types of commitments.
05:05The answer to your question specifically is yes.
05:08Morocco is very well positioned to be a major producer and exporter of green hydrogen.
05:15The South, the Sahara, presents opportunity to use both wind and solar to create the power that's used to make the chemical reaction, if you will,
05:27that results in green hydrogen.
05:30It's also well positioned to support the key markets, the primary markets, for green hydrogen in Europe.
05:36We expect to be producing and exporting to Europe very shortly.
05:44Very shortly.
05:45Yes.
05:46On a timeframe of things like green hydrogen, which are complicated.
05:50Exactly.
05:51Tell us more about Onyx, how everything started.
05:53Oh, Onyx.
05:54So the genesis of this relationship is when I served as ambassador,
05:59I worked with a gentleman named Peter Gish, who was a visionary in renewables energy, who was working on a very specific project in Morocco.
06:08And as ambassador, I thought one of my priorities was to help American investors to do business in Morocco.
06:16And he came and asked for my support for the initiative.
06:20Why?
06:21Why would you advocate for doing business in Morocco?
06:24Well, I'm actually very biased towards Morocco.
06:28I will say Morocco is a country that is on the forward edge for things like renewables, for having an infrastructure, for having legal systems that promote development.
06:43And so when it was time to talk about his project, I knew Peter and what he had accomplished in the United States.
06:50I knew he would be successful.
06:52And I wanted to be able to work on projects in Morocco that others could look at and see the potential for doing business in this country.
07:00And I think by any measure, his first business was a success.
07:03And so when he approached me to work on this, I was glad to step up and to take advantage of what I knew here to try to move his project forward.
07:12So you mentioned regular regulatory and legal framework in Morocco.
07:18What from a project finance perspective, how competitive and bankable is Morocco's legal framework today for large scale and long term projects?
07:31So this is what's really important to do a project of the scale.
07:36You need some really important primary characteristics.
07:39First of all, you have to have rule of law.
07:42If you're working on a transaction where it takes five years to build out your capacity and then you're going to support that business for 25 or 30 years.
07:52The most important thing is to have rule of law.
07:55I am very comfortable with the rule of law in Morocco, how it supports commercial investment and is a cornerstone of why it's great to do business here.
08:05The second is the logistics.
08:08How do you locate a facility of this size and this scope to be able to supply the markets that you choose to serve?
08:15In this instance, Morocco is a perfect place for producing green hydrogen and exporting it to a market, Europe, which has a requirement that renewables become a significant portion of all energy consumption in the whole continent.
08:32So from my perspective, it's hard to find many markets, many countries where it's more beneficial to have this type of investment.
08:41I have investments in terms of finance.
08:461.5 billion US dollars.
08:49Yes.
08:50What is the how?
08:53How would you finance that?
08:55Yeah.
08:56And again, let's just think about that.
08:581.5 billion US dollars is the first phase of this investment.
09:04We're very comfortable that again, because we can construct a project here that is safe and secure, where there's very limited political risk and economic risk.
09:16We will be able to raise capital from both government related entities and the private market to make sure that this program, this project is a success.
09:26So we go from a state vision to the private sector execution. And how would you describe the dynamics between those two pillars of a huge project?
09:38So in this instance, you need public sector support from both Morocco and from the United States of America.
09:48Okay.
09:49Therefore, our strategic relationship helps us to get comfortable making this investment here.
09:55For the private sector, what's most important to them is that they can finance projects that will be successful.
10:01And we're highly confident that we can build this facility here very economically and be a competitive source of green hydrogen for the markets that we choose to serve.
10:12That sort of construct with both public sector support and private sector support will lead to a successful transaction.
10:20Successful transaction. What metrics will ultimately define the success for this project?
10:27The first part is to build a facility that uses state of the art technology, which results in the lowest cost possible of developing green hydrogen.
10:38Having done that, then we will be able to target markets that will look to this low cost product for success.
10:47So as the European, let's say the shipping companies, for example, will have a requirement to move to more towards more renewables.
10:55They will be looking for a high quality product at a reasonable cost.
10:59We will be looking towards our ability to provide that product at a low cost and be successful.
11:05We are working with potential off-take partners now.
11:09We are highly confident based on what we're hearing from the market that this will be a success.
11:14And the off-take partners are mainly in Europe?
11:16First stage, yes.
11:18Because they have a requirement to increase the amount of renewable energy sources that they use.
11:25So what makes this partnership different? Is it about energy or influence?
11:30Well, this project is actually first and foremost about the partnership.
11:34So the consortium in ARNICS includes American investors, Spanish investors and some third party investors.
11:42And over time, you will see that we will bring investors in who represent the industry more broadly.
11:48So the first part is the collaboration among the partners.
11:52The second part of it is really making sure that you can be efficient and provide the product in a competitive way.
12:01And the third part is working with a team of people who really know how to do both the technical, the operations and the marketing support to make it a success.
12:11So it's interesting because this week was held the ministerial meeting on critical minerals in Washington, D.C.
12:20where the U.S. Department of State, the headquarter of the U.S. Department of State and State Secretary Marco Rubio explained that, I quote,
12:33Morocco has a key role to play both because of the deposits it possesses and because of the kingdom's willingness to invest in processing,
12:42as well as its cooperative approach in agreeing to take part in this global initiative, end of quote.
12:49I comment, Dwight Bush, about this role of Morocco in critical minerals world today, as important as it is for technologies and also for renewables.
13:04Sure. Well, I'm not familiar with that specific meeting that was held, but frankly, I'm not surprised.
13:11Because rare earths and other minerals are critical for the success of some of the most important developing industries in the world,
13:20whether it's data centers, whether it's artificial intelligence, whether it's these iPhones that we have in our pocket.
13:27They all require these different types of minerals.
13:32So Morocco, to the extent that it has them, is a great potential strategic partner, because if they are indeed expansive, as they say,
13:46we know that we have a willing partner.
13:48We know that we have in Morocco a government and a palace that understands the capacity of this country
13:55and understands the importance of developing commercial mechanisms for success,
14:01whether it's the Ornix transaction that I'm working on right now or working on these mineral projects.
14:07What I see and what I'm comfortable with is that the partnership between the United States and Morocco will lead to U.S. companies
14:15trying to understand the commercial viability of those products and working with the Moroccan government to make sure that they can be developed.
14:23Mr. Bush, as the golfer who knows very well Morocco, is Morocco playing the long game on green energy just like on the green?
14:35Well, I think that the answer to the question is yes.
14:38I very much enjoy golf, as you know, and I look forward to playing here whenever I can.
14:45I look at the investment that the country has made in golf courses around and the interest, by the way,
14:52that more Americans are having and coming here to play golf.
14:56So the initial investments in golf go back a long ways.
15:01Morocco was the second country on the continent of Africa to have a golf course.
15:06Hassan II invested greatly in the development of beautiful course facilities.
15:12So that first golf course was over 100 years ago.
15:17The first developments, the first investments in green hydro are being made right now.
15:23So I would expect that if I'm alive 100 years from now, inshallah, I could come here.
15:28I would still see golf courses and I would see this burgeoning green hydrogen industry as well.
15:35So 250 anniversary of U.S.-Morocco relationship and for the next 250 years in one word, how this relationship would be from your perspective, Dwight Bush?
15:49I think I have to start with one of my favorite Arabic terms, inshallah, that we know that 250 years from now we can look back at the investments that are being made today and be proud of those investments and see them creating jobs and opportunities in the country from not just the north but through the Sahara.
16:09I think that the potential of this relationship is burgeoning and it's going to be a huge success.
16:16Thank you so much, Dwight Bush, for this exclusive interview for MediOne TV.
16:21It's always such a pleasure to host you here. Thank you.
16:24Shukran.
16:25Mbaraklavik, shukranlik.
16:29Thank you so much for being here today.
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