Chile’s Santiago airport could be first in Latin America to use hydrogen as fuel

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Chile’s Ministry of Energy and Mining and the Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago announced plans to evaluate initiatives and projects that promote the use of green hydrogen in aircraft operating in the country’s capital. It would be the first airport to use this technology in Latin America.

Green hydrogen is one of the keys to decarbonizing the industry in the future since it has an energy content up to three times higher than conventional fossil fuels and releases energy without emitting polluting gases into the environment.

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It is produced from water and natural sources, such as plants, through electrolysis, which uses electric current to split the water molecule and separate the two oxygen atoms from the hydrogen atom. If the electric energy is generated from a renewable method -such as wind or hydroelectric- a fuel that does not emit emissions in its production or consumption is achieved.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mining of Chile, “the National Green Hydrogen Strategy Chile has contemplated that the maritime and air transport sectors can be decarbonized through hydrogen-derived fuels, both on local and international routes (…) today we announce that the country’s main airport will be the first to be enabled to supply aircraft with green hydrogen.”

The management of Arturo Merino Benitez Airport in Santiago de Chile was awarded in 2015 to Nuevo Pudahuel, a group formed by Groupe ADP (45%), VINCI Airports (40%), and Astaldi Concessioni (15%). It is precisely VINCI Airports, one of the companies in the sector worldwide, that is vigorously promoting investment in green hydrogen.

As reported in the article “Decarbonization of the sector: Airbus, Air Liquide, and VINCI Airports partner to promote the use of hydrogen”, the company plans to build a network of European airports adapted to aircraft using this material for their operations.

The Minister of Energy and Mining, Juan Carlos Jobet, together with the general manager of Nuevo Pudahuel, Xavier Lortat-Jacob, announced the plan for the Santiago Airport to be able to receive and supply aircraft powered by green hydrogen from 2030, in line with the policy being developed by VINCI Airports in Europe. Undoubtedly, this is excellent news for the region.

The Chilean government and Santiago airport will coordinate joint actions to advance towards the decarbonization of the activity in the country. In this sense, Jobs assured that “with this announcement, airlines operating in Chile will be able to use green hydrogen (…) This is a new milestone that adds to the largest project in Latin America, which proposes the production of the first molecule for use in mining and the injection of hydrogen in domestic gas networks”.

VINCI Airports is also working on a plan to equip the entire Vinci airport network with facilities for the production, storage, and supply of this sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for use on the ground and in aircraft, according to ALN News.