- The H2 Magallanes Project, the largest in Chile, is owned by the international company Total Eren, it will be located in the San Gregorio commune and will have up to 10 GW of installed wind power capacity, along with up to 8 GW of electrolysis capacity, a plant desalination plant and an ammonia plant (NH3).
- Construction of the project is expected to begin in 2025 to start hydrogen production in 2027.
- The four projects announced in the region mean investments of more than 15,000 million dollars, more than 10,000 MW of electrolysis, an electricity generation capacity of more than 13,000 MW, and a production of more than one million tons of green hydrogen per year. to 2027.
A new milestone is added to the National Green Hydrogen Strategy, and it is that this morning, from Punta Arenas, the Minister of Energy and Mining, Juan Carlos Jobet announced a new large-scale green hydrogen project in the region, which will be the largest in Chile. It is “H2 Magallanes”, from the Total Eren company.
The Minister highlighted the initiative and pointed out that “Magellan is far from the markets, but at the center of the solution against climate change and today it is consolidated as a green hydrogen development pole. We are seeing, 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 of Chile as a whole is changing ”.
In addition, Jobet emphasized the importance of the development of green hydrogen for the southernmost region of the country: “Magallanes, thanks to its winds and wind potential, already has 4 green hydrogen projects, which means investments of more than 15,000 million dollars, more than 10,000 MW in electrolyzers, a capacity to generate electricity of over 13,000 MW, and a production of more than one million tons of green hydrogen per year by 2027 ”.
This, after the construction of the first phase of the HIF project began this year, the Austria Energy project was announced and progress was made in the development of a project promoted by local actors with a presence in the region.
H2 Magallanes Project
The H2 Magallanes Project, of the international company Total Eren and located in the commune of San Gregorio, will have up to 10 GW of installed wind capacity, together with up to 8 GW of electrolysis capacity, a desalination plant, an ammonia plant (NH3 ) and port facilities to transport green ammonia to national 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 the production of green hydrogen by electrolysis, with a target of 25 GW by 2030.
Within the framework of the project, Total Eren signed on November 10, 2021 a collaboration agreement with the University of Magallanes, a recognized public institution with extensive experience in the fields of engineering, environment and social studies.
This public-private partnership will focus on 3 main pillars: environmental and social studies, education and R&D. In particular, Total Eren and the University of Magallanes will collaborate in the preparation of the environmental impact study and in the preparation of the Project’s Citizen Participation Plan in accordance with the best practices defined by the Participation Standards Guide of the Ministry of Energy of Chile .
A fundamental line of the Action Plan that contemplates the Green Hydrogen Strategy is the formation of capacities and innovation. This translates into connecting the different actors, including academia and training centers, to identify gaps and build the national capacities required by the industry.
“We want to promote education, research, development and innovation activities associated with green hydrogen, with special emphasis on those applications of national interest, which will allow us to make Chile not only a producer and exporter of Green Hydrogen, but also to be a world benchmark in the training of specialist technicians in this matter ”, concluded the Minister.
Magellan as Green Hydrogen Development Pole
In February of this year, the Ministry of Energy published a study which concluded that the Magallanes Region could produce 13% of the world’s green hydrogen with wind energy.
Chile’s National Green Hydrogen Strategy has 3 main objectives: 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, it is expected that by 2022 the first part of the HIF project will begin to operate and that its second phase will do so in 2024. For their part, both the AustriaEnergy project and the locally developed project would begin operations in 2026 and that of Total Eren in 2027.
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