Chile's hydrogen industry has moved past initial planning phases, as the first large projects are expected to get environmental permitting cleared by the end of this year, energy minister Diego Pardow told Argus in an interview at the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam.
In line with the global industry, developments have been slower than expected in Chile — which was one of the pioneering countries in Latin America to get a regulatory framework for hydrogen in place and one of the first globally to set highly ambitious targets in 2020.
But a lag in project implementation does not mean lack of progress, Pardow said. Over the past year, hydrogen projects entering the environmental permitting stage in Chile surpassed $25bn in capital combined — up from $250mn a year ago, he said.
Projects entering permitting stages are large ventures targeting exports to Europe and Asia, from developers including TotalEnergies and Eren joint-venture TEH2, HNH Energy, MAE, AES and Hif Global. Hif Global's project could be the first to get environmental permitting cleared by the end of this year, Pardow said.
"Projects at environmental stage are much more detailed, have concrete numbers and concrete value chains [and] they have more clarity on what jobs will be needed," the minister said. At this stage, "it is easier to provide the policies required" to move the industry forward, he added.
It is also better for infrastructure build-out because "designing public infrastructure with public funds for an oversized market is complicated," Pardow noted.
Ports, importing facilities and roads "will be there for the first movers" and infrastructure development is expected to continue as more projects are implemented. A logistics plan for the Magallanes region, in the south, "has achieved every milestone so far," Pardow said.
"Maybe other countries are getting into a stage [where] our country already was a few years ago" when most projects are still at concept stages, Pardow said. "From a policy perspective, it is very hard to accommodate so many projects" of which "you are not sure when, where or if they are going to happen".
A long-awaited $1bn financing facility is open for applications and could help finance projects at all stages — from engineering studies to construction and equipment sourcing. The government is assessing projects on an ongoing basis and aims to have the first round of participants before the end of this year, Pardow said.
With elections scheduled later this year, Chile is set for a change of administration as two consecutive mandates are not permitted in the country. But Pardow believes this should not concern hydrogen industry participants as the current administration has continued the hydrogen strategy launched in 2020 by a previous government and has set up an action plan until 2030. "One of the good things we have achieved in Chile is that the green energy, and hydrogen too, is a state policy," he said. "It is not a partisan issue and there is no political fight".
