March 31 (Reuters) - Spanish engineering firm Acciona and Germany's Nordex said on Friday they teamed up to develop green hydrogen projects within the next 10 years in the United States, Latin America and Africa.

The 50-50 joint venture aims to reach the ready-to-build stage for its first projects by 2027 and expects to reach a production capacity of 500,000 tons of green hydrogen per year, the two companies said in a statement.

Acciona owns a 41% stake in Nordex and its energy unit Acciona Energias will also participate in the joint venture.

The joint company will not operate in Spain and Portugal, where Acciona Energias has an alliance with Plug Power.

Green hydrogen is seen as a potential solution to decarbonising heavy transport including commercial shipping.

It is made from water using electrolysis powered by renewable energy, though the process is expensive and requires huge investment.

Currently hydrogen is mostly produced from fossil fuels. (Reporting by Tiago Brandao, editing by Inti Landauro and Jason Neely)