Enagás, ACCIONA Energía and GNL Quintero have joined forces to construct an electrolysis plant in Quintero Bay to generate green hydrogen from water (H2O) and renewable electricity. The goal of the Quintero Bay Green Hydrogen project is to offer an alternative source of energy that is clean and sustainable, while contributing to the decarbonisation of Chile’s energy matrix and the environmental remediation of the communes of Puchuncaví and Quintero, in the Valparaíso Region.
The plant will be located at the GNL Quintero regasification terminal. It will have a nominal power of 10 MW and an estimated initial production of around 500 t/year, which will be gradually increased depending on the demand created for green hydrogen in the area. The project will involve an estimated investment of 30 million US dollars.
Green hydrogen is produced by the electrolysis process, through which water molecules are separated into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) gas molecules, using electricity generated from 100% renewable energy sources. This therefore guarantees an emission-free fuel production process that will become an inexhaustible resource with which to produce clean and sustainable energy, contributing to the decarbonisation of Chile’s energy matrix. ACCIONA Energía’s ample experience in solar and wind power generation in Chile will be put to use for this purpose.
There are many applications for which the green hydrogen produced can be used in order to replace other fuels in industrial processes, such as in mining, ports (coal, diesel, etc.), either alone or blended with natural gas, and in transport, among others. It could be injected into natural gas distribution networks in the future for industrial or residential consumption in different parts of the country.
According to the country manager of Enagás in Chile, José Antonio de las Heras: “This project represents another step forward in our commitment to renewable gases (green hydrogen and biomethane) as an energy vector for the future and allows us to showcase our experience as an infrastructure company. We are convinced that Chile has unique competitive factors that will allow it to play a key role in the development of green hydrogen, and therefore, we are fully committed to the project.”
José Ignacio Escobar, the general manager of ACCIONA Energía’s South American operations, added: “We are very excited about the joint labour we are undertaking through this project. We have the necessary strengths to turn this project into the launch pad for green hydrogen production in Chile, to which we will contribute with our international experience in sustainable energy production and in the development of resilient infrastructure.”
With regard to this initiative, the general manager of GNL Quintero, Antonio Bacigalupo, explained: “GNL Quintero emerged as a national project to contribute to Chile's energy security, and it was achieved in the face of the most diverse situations of energy stress the country has experienced in the last 12 years. Today, in order to meet the challenge of decarbonising the energy matrix, we have placed our experience with LNG and operational knowledge at the disposal of this new green hydrogen project for the central area of the country. The operation of GNL Quintero is renowned for its commitment to sustainability, compliance with high environmental standards and achieving community development, and we believe that this initiative offers Quintero and Puchuncaví an opportunity to progress towards a solution for the area’s environmental challenges so that Quintero Bay can continue to contribute to the country’s development from a sustainable perspective.”
Enagás, ACCIONA Energía and GNL Quintero have joined forces to undertake the Quintero Bay Green Hydrogen project with the aim of making their experience in the production of clean fuels and the operation of energy infrastructure available to the country and thus supporting the development of this market, in accordance with Chile’s National Strategy on Green Hydrogen, in order to reap the benefits of this new fuel and spearhead an industry that is destined to make the country the world leader in the production of this clean fuel.
International experience
Internationally, Enagás and Acciona Energía are building Spain’s first green hydrogen plant in the Balearic Islands. The Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca project aims to deploy the infrastructure required to develop a renewable hydrogen ecosystem in Mallorca and has received funding in the form of a 10 million euro grant from the European Commission’s Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU).
The Green Hysland project will generate, distribute and use at least 300 tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year in Mallorca, reducing the island’s CO2 emissions by up to 20,700 tonnes per year. In addition to European funding, this initiative involves 30 partners from 11 countries: nine from the European Union, as well as Chile and Morocco. Chile’s participation in this project is being channelled through the Asociación Chilena de Hidrógeno (H2 Chile), the purpose of which is to promote the technology transfer to Chile from projects that are already underway.
