Green hydrogen will generate 100,000 jobs and US $ 200 billion in investment in the next 20 years

After several months in which the government was working on a roadmap for green hydrogen, this conference unveiled it. Expectations for this to be one of the country’s axes in the coming years are high, as Chile has significant potential in renewable energy.

Specifically, this Tuesday an ambitious national strategy was presented to allow the country to develop the green hydrogen industry and place Chile among the world’s leading producers of this renewable fuel by 2040. It was announced at the international conference “Chile 2020: Green Hydrogen Summit”.

During the event -the largest in Latin America and one of the main open access digital conferences on the subject at an international level- President Piñera assured that “Hydrogen will allow us to bet on a balanced development throughout the country, as well as promoting the growth of our human capital, generating an engine of progress and economic reactivation. Green hydrogen will allow us to export our renewable energies to a world that is moving rapidly towards decarbonisation and that needs clean and affordable energy ”.

Meanwhile, Minister of Energy, Juan Carlos Jobet, detailed the action plan that aims to make Chile a world leader in the production and export of green hydrogen. This new pole of progress for the country will imply, according to estimates, the creation of some 100,000 jobs and US $ 200 billion in investment over the next 20 years.

“This new industry that will be developed can achieve the relevance that the mining sector has in the national economy. In addition, it will help the process of decarbonizing some productive activities, such as mining and agriculture itself, giving them greater international competitiveness and contributing to the goal of a zero-emissions country by 2050, ”Jobet said.

Along these lines, he added that green hydrogen is a strategic opportunity for Chile. “Our country is the ideal place to produce and export green hydrogen and its derivatives, including ammonia, methanol and synthetic fuels. Various analyzes, including those of the International Energy Agency and McKinsey & Company, show that Chile’s enormous wealth of renewable energies would allow it to produce the most competitive green hydrogen on the planet and on a large scale ”.

Chile’s national green hydrogen strategy has 3 main goals: Produce the cheapest green hydrogen on the planet by 2030, be among the top 3 exporters by 2040 and have 5 GW of electrolysis capacity under development by 2025. To this end, a concrete action plan has been developed to accelerate the deployment of green hydrogen in key national applications by 2025 and enter the export market by 2030.

Among them, the realization of a round of financing for US $ 50 million for green hydrogen projects, in order to help investors close gaps and create early experience. In parallel, an operational team -task-force- will be established to monitor the permitting process and the development of green hydrogen pilings and its derivatives.

Too quota mechanisms in gas networks will be explored to increase the demand for this clean fuel, an experience similar to that which was successfully applied to boost renewable energies.

To create domestic demand, A working group will be created with State companies to accelerate the adoption of green hydrogen in them and their suppliers. Likewise, it will be sought that hydrogen is considered in the political, ordering and territorial planning processes, in particular to raise and solve infrastructure needs.

On another plane, it was reported that A public / private table will be set up to discuss the route to a carbon price and taxes that better reflect the externalities of fuels. Also, he said, the Ministry will play an active role in solving critical barriers, such as establishing the necessary security standards to guarantee the certainty of planning.

Other key actions contemplated in the strategy are the development of capacities and knowledge transfer to satisfy the human capital needs that this new industry will demand and the involvement of communities and local stakeholders, to ensure early and continuous participation and to increase the value that local suppliers can capture.

Water will be an essential input for the production of green hydrogen, so the proper use of it will be key for the development of this new technology.

From the Ministry of Energy, they argued that with 1% of the water used by mining today, all the diesel used by mining trucks can be replaced.

Specifically, green hydrogen is not water intensive, what is relevant in this is energy. And it is that, between 50% and 80% of the cost of producing it is energy. For this reason, there is talk of Chile’s competitive advantage. Another characteristic that empowers Chile to lead with technology is that being a narrow country, it is closer to ports.

Responsible use of water is framed within the government’s strategy.