Minister Jobet announces new green hydrogen project in Magallanes that will be the largest in Chile
The H2 Magallanes Project will be located in the municipality of San Gregorio. It will have an installed wind power capacity of up to 10 GW and an electrolysis capacity of up to 8 GW. It will also contain a desalinization plant and an ammonia (NH3) plant. Construction on the project is slated to begin in 2025 for hydrogen production to commence in 2027.
A new milestone is to be added to the National Green Hydrogen Strategy. Energy and Mining Minister Juan Carlos Jobet announced a new large-scale green hydrogen project this morning from Punta Arenas: The Total Eren H2 Magallanes project. It will be the largest in Chile.
Minister Jobet praised the initiative and observed, “Magallanes is far from the markets, but at the center of climate change solutions. Today, it is being consolidated as a hub of green hydrogen development. We are seeing our strategy become a reality through concrete actions. We are beginning to see how the production matrix of the region and the whole of Chile is gradually changing.”
The minister also noted the importance of green hydrogen development for the country’s southernmost region: “Thanks to its winds and wind-power potential, Magallanes now has four green hydrogen projects with investments of over US$15 billion, more than 10,000 MW in electrolyzers, the capacity to generate over 13,000 MW, and production that will reach more than one million tons of green hydrogen by 2027.”
This year saw construction begin on the first phase of the HIF project, the announcement of the Austria Energy project, and progress on a project developed by local stakeholders with a presence in the region.
The H2 Magallanes Project
The H2 Magallanes Project is being developed by the international company Total Eren in the municipality of San Gregorio. The facility will have an installed wind power capacity of up to 10 GW and an electrolysis capacity of up to 8 GW. It will also contain a desalinization plant, an ammonia (NH3) plant, and port facilities for transporting the green ammonium to national and international markets. Construction on the project is slated to begin in 2025 for hydrogen production to commence in 2027.
The project is part of Chile’s efforts to position itself as a leader in green hydrogen production via electrolysis, by hitting a 25 GW target by 2030.
As part of the project, Total Eren signed a collaboration agreement on November 10, 2021, with the Universidad de Magallanes, a renowned public institution with a great deal of experience in the fields of engineering, environmental studies and social studies.
The public-private partnership will focus on three main pillars: environmental and social studies; education; and R+D. Specifically, Total Eren and the Universidad de Magallanes will work together to prepare the environmental impact study and the citizen participation plan for the project, based on the best practices defined in the Chilean Energy Ministry Guide for Participation Standards.
A fundamental aspect of the Green Hydrogen Strategy Plan of Action is the development of capacities and innovation. This involves connecting with various stakeholders, including academia and training centers, in order to identify gaps and generate the capacities needed by the industry in Chile.
“We want to promote education, research, development, and innovation activities associated with green hydrogen, with a special emphasis on those applications of national interest. This would allow us to make Chile a green hydrogen producer and exporter, as well as a world leader in the training of technical specialists in the field,” Minister Jobet concluded.
Magallanes as a hub of green hydrogen development
The Energy Ministry published a study in February of this year that concluded the Magallanes Region could produce 13% of the world’s green hydrogen using wind energy.
Chile’s National Green Hydrogen Strategy has three main goals: to have 5 GW of electrolysis capacity in development by 2025; to produce the world’s least expensive green hydrogen by 2030; and to be one of the three main green hydrogen exporters by 2040.
The first stage of the HIF project should be operational by 2022 and the second phase by 2024. Both the Austria Energy project and the locally-developed project will begin operations in 2026; the Total Eren initiative will be launched in 2027.