Government announces Chile’s largest green hydrogen project will be produced by French multinational

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The government announced a new milestone that adds to the National Green Hydrogen Strategy: from Punta Arenas, the minister of Energy and Mining, Juan Carlos Jobet, announced a large-scale green hydrogen project in the region, which will be the largest in Chile.

It is “H2 Magallanes”, of the French multinational company Total Eren.

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Jobet highlighted the initiative and pointed out that “Magallanes is far from the markets, but in the center of the solution against climate change and today is consolidated as a pole of development of green hydrogen. We see, through concrete actions, how our strategy becomes a reality, and little by little, we will begin to see how the productive matrix of the region and Chile as a whole will change.”

Through a press release, the authority emphasized the importance of the development of green hydrogen for the southernmost region of the country. “Magallanes, thanks to its wind and wind potential, already has four green hydrogen projects, which means investments of more than 15 billion dollars (…),” he commented.

After the construction of the first phase of the HIF project began this year, the Austria Energy project was announced, and progress is being made in the development of a project driven by local actors with a presence in the region.

H2 MAGALLANES PROJECT

The H2 Magallanes Project, owned by the international company Total Eren and located in the commune of San Gregorio, will have up to 10 GW of installed wind capacity, along with up to 8 GW of electrolysis capacity, a desalination plant, an ammonia (NH3) plant and port facilities to transport green ammonia to domestic and international markets.

Construction of the project is expected to begin in 2025 to start hydrogen production in 2027. The project “is part of Chile’s ambition to be among the leaders in producing green hydrogen by electrolysis, with a target of 25 GW by 2030″, said the government.

As part of the project, Total Eren signed on November 10, 2021, a collaboration agreement with the University of Magallanes, a renowned public institution with expertise in the fields of engineering, environment, and social studies.

This public-private partnership will focus on three main pillars: environmental and social studies, education, and R&D.

In particular, Total Eren and the University of Magallanes will collaborate in preparing the environmental impact study and elaborating the Project’s Citizen Participation Plan following the best practices defined by the Participation Standards Guide of the Chilean Ministry of Energy.

MAGALLANES AS A GREEN HYDROGEN DEVELOPMENT POLE

In February of this year, the Ministry of Energy published a study concluding that the Magallanes region could produce 13% of the world’s green hydrogen with wind energy.

Chile’s National Green Hydrogen Strategy has three main objectives: to have 5 GW of electrolysis capacity under development by 2025, produce the cheapest green hydrogen on the planet by 2030, and be among the top 3 exporters by 2040.

Finally, the first part of the HIF project is expected to start operating by 2022 and the second phase by 2024.

The Austria Energy project and the locally developed project are expected to start operations in 2026 and the Total Eren project in 2027.