Chile could produce the world’s cheapest green hydrogen – Port of Rotterdam

Chile’s abundant access to renewable energy sources makes it ideally placed to become a major hydrogen producer and exporter to Europe and other regions, the Port of Rotterdam Authority says.

PHOTO: Oil refinery and storage tanks in the Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands. Getty Images

Rotterdam recently concluded a feasibility study on Chilean hydrogen production, exploring a 200-500 MW-capacity green hydrogen production project called TANGO.

The hydrogen will be converted to ammonia and shipped to Europe. The partners target an initial flow of 127,000 mt/year from 2027, before eventually ramping that volume up to 430,000 mt/year.

Other partners are Chilean energy company GASCO, Uruguayan hydrogen firm HyNewGen, Irish chemical company Linde and Dutch storage tank operator Vopak.

They plan to set up a green hydrogen corridor from Chile to Europe in response to forecasts of growing global demand, according to Rotterdam’s port authority.

More project-related decisions will be taken later depending on customer contracts, necessary permits, and private and public community participation.

Chile has been considered a strategic location for production of green fuels as it can tap into its abundant sources of renewable energy, especially solar and wind power.

With sunshine in its northern desert and strong winds in its southern region, Chile “has the potential to become one of the cheapest producers of green hydrogen around the globe,” Rotterdam’s port authority says.

Last week, Rotterdam and a large group of exporting countries and other companies announced plans to supply northwest Europe with 4.6 million mt/year of hydrogen by 2030 through local production and imports.