With international demand for renewable hydrogen and its derivatives taking longer than originally expected to build, Chile hopes to leverage the domestic market to get pickaxes swinging.
The country has a large pipeline of commercial-scale projects, several holding an environmental license.
“Global rollout was slower than expected, with high production costs, a scarcity of long-term contracts and persistent regulatory gaps,” said Ana María Ruz, executive director of Chilean state development agency Corfo’s green hydrogen committee, in a presentation.
“National demand is becoming more important in the new scenario, shifting the focus away from the original export orientation.”
Of a batch of 10 Chilean projects that have either passed, or remain in, the permitting phase, three are the closest to reaching FID – all of them geared to producing derivatives with existing demand and use cases. Much hinges on securing an offtaker, still a challenging task on the international market.
“Therefore, local demand and projects based on local demand are key for us,” Ruz said during a South American hydrogen webinar.
The three most advanced Chilean projects identified are MAE’s US$2.5 billion (bn) Volta green ammonia project (Antofagasta region), Comasa’s green fertilizer project (La Araucanía region) and HIF’s US$830 million (mn) Cabo Negro e-fuels project (Magallanes region). They are either in the feasibility or advanced pre-feasibility phases.
“They are the priority focus of public intervention in the 2026–32 period,” Ruz said in the presentation.
HIF has a small-scale e-fuels plant operating in Magallanes, known as Haru Oni, and Comasa is building a pilot project in La Araucanía.
Originally viewed chiefly as a means to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors and build industrial value chains, hydrogen and its derivatives are today –given global fossil fuel price and supply shocks and heightened uncertainty –also seen as playing a role in boosting energy and food security. Shipping and aviation are potential large future offtakers of e-fuels and ammonia.
Leveraging domestic demand, in spheres such as heavy transport, farming and mining, is seen as a way to develop skills, knowledge and value chains that can be used once international demand comes online.
The webinar was jointly hosted by Brazil’s hydrogen association ABIHV, Chile’s hydrogen association H2Chile, Uruguay’s clean energy chamber Auder, Uruguay’s hydrogen association AUH and Argentina’s clean energy association Cader.
(The original version of this content was written in English)
