Pilot plant starts green hydrogen production in southern Chile

By: MRT Desk

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Pilot plant starts green hydrogen production in southern Chile

The Haru Oni pilot plant of the company HIF Global, leader of a multinational energy project, produced on Tuesday in Punta Arenas the first liters of synthetic fuels made with green hydrogen and recycled carbon hydroxide, a milestone in the development of “eFuels” that seek to displace fossil fuels in the future.

“(…) HAI’s Haru Oni plant has that symbolic value. One that allows us to look to a future where other forms of energy are possible. At a time when so many forces are pushing to roll back our climate goals, we need these moments of optimism,” said Chilean Energy Minister Diego Pardow, who attended the demonstration.

“It is key that the new green hydrogen industry favors the creation of good jobs and improves people’s quality of life. In this way, we will be giving certainties for a much more sustainable future,” he added.

The activity was marked by the loading with synthetic gasoline of a Porsche (F:P911_p) 911, a German sports car brand participating in Haru Oni, in addition to Enel (BIT:ENEI) Green Power, Enap, Siemens Energy, Empresas Gasco and Exxon (NYSE:XOM) Mobile.

The project initially includes the production of 350 tons of “eMethanol” raw and 131 cubic liters of “eCombustible” per year, to then move to a phase in which the initial investment of 74 million dollars increases to 755 million dollars, raising its production to 70,000 cubic liters of eCombustible.

“Just over a year ago we laid the first stone of this dream, which today is a reality: to have a fuel created with the unparalleled energy of the Magellanic wind. It is a concrete response, here and now, to humanity’s main challenge. We are proud to take this step in Punta Arenas and in Chile, because we know it will be decisive for the future of the next generations,” said HIF Global President César Norton.

According to experts, the advantageous geographical position of the country, as well as the weather conditions and the competitive production of solar and wind energy, necessary to obtain green hydrogen, place Chile as a possible exporting power of this energy molecule.

Green hydrogen, which is obtained using clean energy, is known as “the fuel of the future”, it is a powerful source of energy that could replace fossil fuels, and its use only releases water vapor.

So far it has not been used massively because of its expensive production, which consists of isolating its atoms through a process called electrolysis, however more and more countries are trying to make the processes cheaper.

Chile’s goal is to reduce its value to $1.5 per kilo by 2030, which would make it the cheapest in the world.

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