Chile is one of the most advanced countries in the world in the mission of developing hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources: green hydrogen.
At the beginning of the month, President Sebastián Piñera presented the National Green Hydrogen Strategy (download), a concrete roadmap for the next 10 years, whose ultimate goal is the generation and export of this water-based gas that will be produced from clean sources such as wind and solar photovoltaic power.
The program not only sets objectives for Chile but also details a scheme of agreements with other countries around the world for the development of this gas at a competitive price from clean energy sources.
Within this framework, the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Program (4e) of GIZ Chile launched the "Green Hydrogen Latin America and the Caribbean ( H2LAC.org )" platform, which aims to be a network of associations, institutions, ministries and the private sector from different countries in the region, from which green hydrogen projects can be supported in their execution and their development promoted.
The digital space offers technical material such as studies, reports and webinars, from various GIZ projects in Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.
It is worth highlighting that GIZ Chile's 4e Program has been developing projects in this area for over six years, partnering with the Ministry of Energy and serving as one of the driving forces behind the National Green Hydrogen Strategy. Green hydrogen is currently being sought worldwide for decarbonization solutions, and it is expected that green hydrogen will play a central role in this process.
Energy costs account for around 80% of the final price, therefore countries like Chile with low electricity production costs from renewable energy sources are prime candidates to produce this energy vector.
Therefore, Chile is considered the hidden champion of green hydrogen, a country with the highest values of solar radiation per m2 in the world in the Atacama Desert in the north and great potential for wind energy, especially in Patagonia.