Chile's Green Hydrogen Ambitions

The country has the potential to be one of the lowest-cost producers of low-carbon fuels

Visitors to Chile’s Punta Arenas, one of the southernmost cities in the world, should beware: Winds of as high as 120 kilometers per hour (75 miles per hour) can easily topple the unwitting pedestrian.

Capitalizing on those powerful gusts is an important agenda item for President Gabriel Boric, who assumed office almost a year ago promising to green an economy dependent on fossil fuels and copper mining. Renewables already account for more than 50% of the country’s electricity generation capacity, and that proportion is set to continue rising as the government works toward the goal of closing or repurposing all coal-fired plants.

Chile is seeking to lure private investors to harness the country’s winds for commercial purposes, partly to cushion the blow from the energy transition on certain communities. “Because many of our industries, like oil in the south and coal in the north, are slowly dying in this green world, we need to give those communities an alternative to keep working and provide economic stability,” says Energy Minister Diego Pardow.

Haru Oni, a $74 million pilot project about 40km north of Punta Arenas, is the fruit of these efforts. On a site surrounded by nothing but brush, a giant wind turbine towers over a collection of buildings, one of which houses an electrolyzer, a machine that splits water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen is released into the atmosphere, while the hydrogen is captured and combined with carbon dioxide to make methanol, a gasoline substitute that burns more cleanly. Germany’s Siemens Energy and Porsche, along with Enel, an Italian energy company, are partners in the venture, which became operational at the end of last year.