Porsche has backed plans for a first-of-its-kind green hydrogen production plant in Chile.
Working in partnership with a lineup of international companies, the pilot project is expected to yield the world’s first integrated, commercial industrial-scale plant for making synthetic climate-neutral fuels (eFuels).
The ‘Haru Oni’ pilot project, co-developed by Siemens Energy, in Magallanes Province takes advantage of the excellent wind conditions in southern Chile to produce climate-neutral fuel with the aid of green wind power.
Siemens is serving as a systems integrator to cover the entire value chain – from power generation using Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, to producing green hydrogen, to conversion into synthetic fuel.
Around 130,000 of eFuels will be produced as early as 2022 in the pilot phase, with capacity increased to about 55 million litres of eFuels a year by 2024, and around 550 million litres of eFuels by 2026.
As part of Germany’s national hydrogen strategy, Siemens Energy will get a grant of around €8m from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to support the project.
“Hydrogen is a key component for successfully carrying out the energy transformation in every sector. That’s why, with the National Hydrogen Strategy, we aim to take advantage of the opportunities that hydrogen offers for the climate, energy and economic policy,” said Federal Economy Minister Peter Altmaier.
“We know we won’t be able to cover our national demand out of domestic production alone and will need international partnerships.”
“So, I’m very pleased to see that Siemens Energy and Porsche are developing production capacity in other countries, along with importing structures, for green hydrogen and its daughter products.”
Porsche said it will be a primary customer of the green fuel and plans to use it in vehicles for motorsports, at the Porsche Experience Centers and perspectively also in serial production sports cars.
“Electromobility is a top priority at Porsche. eFuels for cars are a worthwhile complement to that – if they’re produced in parts of the world where a surplus of sustainable energy is available. They are an additional element on the road to decarbonisation,” said Porsche CEO Oliver Blume.
This article is reproduced at www.h2-view.com
