Enagas, Acciona Energía, GNL Quintero team up for green hydrogen project

Two Spanish companies are looking to build a green hydrogen production facility at Chile’s Quintero LNG import terminal. One of the companies is Enagas, which owns a 45.4% stake in the terminal’s operator GNL Quintero, and the other is Acciona Energía, a subsidiary of Acciona.

According to a statement from Enagas, the parties have joined forces for the project, which envisions the construction of a hydrolysis facility at the LNG terminal at a cost of $30mn. The hydrolysis plant will use electricity generated from renewable sources to generate green hydrogen at the initial rate of about 500 tonnes per year (tpy). Its power unit will have a generating capacity of 10 MW.

Enagas said that the hydrolysis plant might increase production later, as demand for hydrogen fuel rises. The project will provide Chile with an alternative source of fuel and energy that does not contribute to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and support environmental remediation efforts in Puchuncaví and Quintero, two towns in the central Valparaíso region, it stated. It is also in line with the Chilean government’s National Green Hydrogen Strategy, it added.

The Spanish company did not say when work might begin on the hydrolysis plant.

José Antonio de las Heras, Enagas’ country manager in Chile, stressed his company’s determination to invest in low-carbon energy initiatives. “This project means taking a further step in our commitment to renewable gases (green hydrogen and biomethane) as an energy source for the future and takes account of our experience as an infrastructure company,” he said. “We are convinced that Chile has unique competitive qualities that will allow it to play a key role in the development of green hydrogen, so our commitment to the project is at a maximum.”

Meanwhile, José Ignacio Escobar, Acciona Energía’s director-general for South America, expressed similar enthusiasm. “We are very excited about the joint work we are doing through this project,” he commented. “We have the necessary strengths to turn this project into a spearhead for launching green hydrogen production in Chile, [and] we will contribute our international experience in the production of sustainable energy and in the development of resilient infrastructure.”

For his part, Antonio Bacigalupo, the general manager of GNL Quintero, emphasised the contributions the partners could make to decarbonisation. “Today, to face the challenge of decarbonising the energy mix, we put our experience with LNG and operational knowledge at the disposal of this new green hydrogen project ... GNL Quintero’s operation is recognised for its commitment to sustainability, maintaining high environmental standards and community development, and we believe that this initiative offers Quintero and Puchuncaví a chance to make progress toward solving the environmental challenges of the area, to ensure that Quintero Bay can continue to contribute to the development of the country from a sustainable perspective.”