Today” “green hydrogen” is shown as a great opportunity for the country, comparing it even to our greatest strength: copper.
The use of hydrogen as fuel is already long dated, the technology to produce it exists several decades ago, it has even been used for this purpose in spacecraft.
Hydrogen can be produced by extracting it from fossil fuels (usually hydrocarbons composed of carbon and hydrogen) by means of chemical processes. Almost all of the hydrogen in the world is currently produced in this way. It can also be obtained from water through the electrolysis process, using renewable energies, called green hydrogen. This achieves the breakdown of water molecules (H2O) into oxygen (O2) and hydrogen (H2).
The great advantage of hydrogen is that its combustion only produces water vapour as residue, rather than polluting gases. Therefore, it is a 100% clean fuel. However, its production requires significant investment in infrastructure and, therefore, at present, its prices are not competitive with the alternatives available. According to the International Energy Agency, 1 kilogram of green hydrogen, containing about 33.3 kWh, costs between 3.50 and 5 euros, which means between 0.10 euros/kWh, without considering local infrastructure for distribution. Electricity in Chile for industrial customers has a lower value than this. So the question is: why not directly use electricity for potential local uses of hydrogen: vehicles, heating, boilers, etc.?
The answer seems to be that we could export hydrogen to distant destinations like Asia and Europe.
However, there are disadvantages to this, for example, a significant amount of water is required for its production. Production of one ton of hydrogen through electrolysis required an average of nine tons of water. While desalinated seawater could be used, this incurs an additional cost and carries no less environmental impacts. Another disadvantage is the distance from our country with the most interesting markets from a consumer perspective.
It seems somewhat adventurous to talk about Chile as a green hydrogen power since us$50 million in national financing levels were reported last year for such projects to “help investors close gaps and create early experience”, and the goal of having 5 GW of electrolysis capacity by 2025, while other countries – competitors – such as Australia , present projects for more than 27 GW with investment of MMUS$36 thousand, the first stage of which would be for 2028. Something similar happens in Germany, the Netherlands and China.
On the other hand, it seems to me that there are urgent issues to resolve in the energy sector, such as the massive use of firewood in some areas of the country with the consequent pollution of households and the health problems that are known. Why not devote resources to solving this already long-standing problem, making it easier to use cleaner fuels like natural gas?
In short, we must be careful to define priorities for the use of state resources and not to form exaggerated expectations for development, which while interesting, cannot be compared to copper mining in terms of potential revenue for Chile.
The content poured into this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.
