Many countries are urgently looking for ways to meet their energy needs without further harming the environment. One of the solutions found is green hydrogen, also known as renewable hydrogen or e-hydrogen, whose production is led by six countries.
The optimism surrounding what Forbes magazine has called “the energy of the future” relates to a number of mega-projects being planned around the world. The six countries with the largest green hydrogen production projects are Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, China, Saudi Arabia and Chile, according to a BBC release.
The Latin American country is considered one of the meccas of solar energy. was the first in the region to present a “National Strategy for Green Hydrogen,” in November 2020.
And it is also the only Latin American country with two projects in development: HyEx, by French energy company Engie and Chilean mining company Enaex, and Highly Innovative Fuels (HIF), by AME, Enap, Enel Green Power, Porsche and Siemens Energy. *
Chilean Energy Minister Juan Carlos Jobet pointed out that the country not only wants to produce green hydrogen to meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, but also aspires to be able to export the fuel.
“If we do things right, the green hydrogen industry in Chile can become as important as mining, forestry or as salmon once were,” he told Electricidad magazine.
Expectations
Computer mogul Bill Gates, who just published a new book titled How to avoid a climate disaster, highlighted this fuel as the best innovation in recent years to combat the greenhouse effect.
Hydrogen has three times more energy than gasoline. Unlike the latter, it is a clean energy source because it releases only water (H2O) in the form of water vapor and does not produce carbon dioxide (CO2).
However, it is considered dangerous because it is highly flammable, making transportation and safe storage a major challenge. In addition, there are difficulties in producing it, as it is found on Earth only in combination with other elements. Therefore, hydrogen must be separated from other molecules to be used as a fuel, which requires large amounts of energy and is very expensive.
