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Latin America prepares for tidy hydrogen boom however the road is not smooth

L atin America's wealth of hydroelectricity and other sustainable energy resources might make the region a significant producer of tidy hydrogen as the world seeks alternatives to nonrenewable fuel sources to combat the environment crisis, however some huge hurdles lie in the method.

Government leaders anticipate a significant advantage for the region from tidy hydrogen, also called green hydrogen, produced utilizing electrical power from renewable sources that do not produce carbon.

For example Colombia's federal government, led by leftist President Gustavo Petro, has actually made weaning the nation off oil and coal in favor of renewable energy a major policy objective. And billions of dollars in funding are on offer from multilateral lenders.

Yet market groups and experts stated still more financial investment is required. Other major obstacles they mentioned included a lack of consumers as regional organizations avoid signing deals that manufacturers require to secure funding. This has intensified a. dearth of local production.

Supporters promote tidy hydrogen as fuel for everything from. trucks to steel blast furnaces and as input for green. fertilizers. Yet critics say its production still needs. extreme energy inputs.

Latin American countries are poised to benefit as European. and Asian nations require to suck it up and start signing. agreements for significant amounts of hydrogen, Monica. Gasca, executive director of the Colombian Hydrogen Association,. told Reuters. Yet she and other market specialists said production. will most likely not ramp up much without handle place.

We are quite in a chicken and egg circumstance when it. pertains to green hydrogen, said Fernando Schaich, head of green. hydrogen at Uruguay-based energy service business SEG Ingenieria.

Latin American industries themselves might be important. hydrogen customers, Schaich said. All projects will really begin. when the shipping, airline company and heavy industries indication offers and. make dedications.

Rates the fuel financially enough to bring in clients. depends on low-cost, numerous and reliable products of sustainable. energy.

But in Colombia, dozens of onshore wind tasks prepared for. the La Guajira peninsula have been canceled or long-delayed. due to the fact that Indigenous groups have not approved construction.

If Colombia doesn't really make an effort to help with the. discussions between the communities and the designers, primarily in. La Guajira, then Colombia will be at least 33% less competitive. than the rest of Latin America, stated Inter-American Advancement. Bank (IDB) lead energy expert, Christiaan Gischler.

Tidy hydrogen is currently far more costly - north of. $ 10 per kilogram in some places - than more contaminating. hydrogen, stated Luisa Palacios, a senior research scholar at. Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy.

Gray hydrogen created from fossil fuels currently. expenses as little as $1 to $3 per kilogram, Palacios added.

But Gischler said re-purposing existing assets such as. pipelines or structure shared infrastructure might press clean. hydrogen expenses in Latin America down to $1.50 to $2.50 per. kg.

BUYERS AND REGULATORS

A World Economic Online forum report published in August tape-recorded. some $6.1 billion as allocated for renewable financial investments -. consisting of tidy hydrogen - throughout the area by multilateral. lending institutions and funds, along with foreign and local federal governments,. in addition to an expediency study for a $4 billion clean. hydrogen plant in Uruguay.

That is a tiny fraction of the $100 billion to $300. billion financial investment the IDB's Maria Florencia Attademo-Hirt told. a roundtable discussion that the market would need in the. region by 2030.

There are about 65 tidy hydrogen jobs in Latin America,. mainly in the early development stages, according to the Wilson. Center think tank that hosted the roundtable.

Since completion of 2023 Colombia had some 28 projects,. according to Gasca, consisting of an industrial-scale job at. state-run energy business Ecopetrol's refinery in the city of. Cartagena, set to come online in 2026.

Brazil's Petrobras is also eyeing tidy hydrogen to change. gray hydrogen in its own operations, according to the company's. energy shift chief, Mauricio Tolmasquim.

State-controlled Petrobras plans to develop 2 green hydrogen. plants, and is holding talks with potential customers,. Tolmasquim has actually stated, adding it is still establishing costs.

Chile has determined 12 guidelines appropriate to green. hydrogen development that should be updated, said Marcos Kulka,. chief executive of H2 Chile, the South American country's. eponymous hydrogen association. Five other guidelines must be created. for development to advance.

Like Colombia's La Guajira, Chile's Strait of Magellan could. end up being a significant clean hydrogen production center thanks to strong. winds, Gischler said.

Producers need to be bolder in discovering consumers, stated Diego. Arboleda, president of Colombian developer Hevolucion.

The customer is not going to come through the door and say,. ' who wishes to offer me 100 tonnes of hydrogen today?' said. Arboleda.

Hevolucion's plant, located near Colombia's second-city. Medellin, will begin producing one tonne of tidy hydrogen daily. in November, and the company prepares a pilot job to export. green ammonia - produced by integrating clean hydrogen with. nitrogen - to the Port of Rotterdam for use as energy storage.

Colombia's federal government need to offer incentives. locally, Arboleda said, consisting of rules about cars. mixing diesel with hydrogen to reduce emissions.

Clara Bowman, chief operating officer of HIF International, whose. Haru Oni plant in southern Chile produces tidy hydrogen to make. methanol for use in e-fuels, stated requireds on mixing tidy. hydrogen-based fuels with existing gas would help.

Possible clients need the regulative assistance to make. sure that they are not going to be uncompetitive in their. market as a result of making those sorts of decisions, Bowman. stated.

(source: Reuters)