The plant is estimated to start operations during 2022.
Chile is creating future in the far south of its national territory. Its first green hydrogen and synthetic fuels project will be located in the Magallanes region. This environmentally friendly fuel will be key to the world reaching its carbon neutrality targets by 2050.
Highly Innovative Fuels' (HIF) Haru Oni project brings together both the public and private sectors, as well as Chilean and foreign businesses. The Chilean company HIF is the owner of the plant, while other entities involved in the initiative are ENAP from Chile, Siemens and Porsche from Germany, and Enel Green Power from Italy, among others.
The project entails building a hydrogen-based fuel production plant, a 3.4MW wind turbine and 13kV back-up transmission line. The plant will be built on a 3.7-hectare site within the Tehuel Aike estate in Punta Arenas. The project will take up a total of 5.7 hectares. The construction work is expected to take around eleven months to complete.
The project will use wind power to produce green hydrogen from water. It will then be combined with CO2 captured from the atmosphere to produce methanol. This process will produce a gasoline, which can be used in conventional vehicles, with no modifications required. This would make transportation carbon neutral!
The plant is expected to produce 350 tons of crude methanol and 130,000 liters of gasoline per year. Both fuels will be stored in tanks and transported by truck to Puerto Mardones, 35km away, ready for export. The project will allow Chile to play a crucial role in providing the world with an environmentally friendly, competitive fuel that does not generate emissions.
Magallanes' potential in green hydrogen
A research by the Chilean Ministry of Energy suggests that the Magallanes region could eventually produce 13% of the world's green hydrogen, given its huge potential for wind-based energy production. It has been estimated that Magallanes could generate sevenfold the amount of electricity currently being produced by Chile's entire electricity matrix.
The research shows that Magallanes possesses some of Chile's best wind resources and could provide a potential yield of 126,000MW.
Do you want to find out how Haru Oni will be? Click here for a virtual tour of the project.
