Expanding the climate-friendly hydrogen industry in Chile

Context

Chile has great potential to generate energy from renewable sources such as solar power and wind and to use that energy to produce green hydrogen. Yet there are considerable challenges to using hydrogen across the board, namely the lack of recognised certification schemes for hydrogen, a legal framework and an incentives system to favour green hydrogen over fossil fuels. Chile needs to develop and promote financing arrangements to support investment in hydrogen production and infrastructure. The same applies to funding for research and innovative developments with a view to bringing them to market.

Objective

The Chilean Ministry of Energy is implementing its first National Strategy for Green Hydrogen at a fast pace. The strategy is designed to promote the production, storage, domestic use and export of hydrogen and to make Chile one of the three biggest exporters of green hydrogen and its derivatives by 2030.

Approach

The project is supporting government authorities in Chile in developing a legal framework to guarantee that hydrogen is handled safely and to govern certificates for hydrogen and its derivatives such as ammonia.

It is driving technology development by piloting a project in which hydrogen is used locally. The project draws on geodata analyses to monitor and record the impact of hydrogen production on flora and fauna and on the planet.

In addition, the project assesses the needs of different stakeholder groups and uses its findings to produce proposals for a joint infrastructure for green hydrogen and its derivatives. By assessing infrastructure and environmental impacts, it can also minimise the risk of negative effects resulting from the use of hydrogen.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is implementing the project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and the European Union (EU).

Last update: December 2024