What is green hydrogen, the energy that we can produce here and that tempts Europe?

In the race to reduce the environmental impact, renewable energies are at the forefront. Siemens Energy, the independent company which has been concentrating all the assets of the German giant’s energy activity for a year – after the spin-off of the parent company Siemens – is one of the protagonists in this process. But the bet today does not only go through wind infrastructure, where the company is gaining momentum globally: plans to achieve carbon neutrality include a boost to green hydrogen and ecological fuels or e- fuels. .

APERTURA participated with journalists from the region in a virtual press conference with Tim Holt, Siemens Energy board member for Latin America, who spoke about the energy transformation of the continent and detailed the initiatives that the company leads.

“The region has great opportunities in terms of energy transition. There are a lot of interesting projects going on,” said Holt, referring to the case of green hydrogen in Chile and the Haru Oni ​​project in the south. from the trans-Andean country, where the Company is implementing the first integrated plant for the production of ecological fuel from wind and water. For the executive, it is necessary to take a step in the evolution from fossil fuels to e-fuels and to accelerate the pace of innovation in the electricity infrastructure of the region to make it sustainable and efficient. Hydrogen can be used not only for chemical processes but also for energy transport and production, he argued.

In the region of Magallanes, in the extreme south of Chile, the Siemens Energy pilot project with other energy companies will generate Synthetic methanol – zero emission green fuel base – from green hydrogen produced, initially, with wind energy obtained from strong winds of the area. The objective is to export this ecological fuel to Europeexplained the executive.

the transport plays a central role in reducing the carbon footprint and is one of the concerns on which the European Union has focused the road to decarbonization (the block set a goal of being carbon neutral by 2050). According to Siemens data, transport and industry sectors are responsible for 45% of global carbon emissions and renewable energy sources in these sectors have only managed to reduce this record by less than 8%. In the company’s vision, Hydrogen-generated fuels will be an answer to achieving zero emission standardswith electrification.

Siemens Energy will promote the use of green hydrogen as fuel in other pilot tests in Colombia – in the transport of the city of Bogot – and in Mexico, the executive said at the press conference. “Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina have the natural resources to produce green hydrogen. And they could possibly export it. There may be a case like LNG (liquefied natural gas), which has become a competitive global product and could be transported the production cost dropped. Green hydrogen for Latam could be in this similar situation, ”he said. “Europe does not have all the resources to produce the green hydrogen it needs to consume,” he added.

Regarding Argentina, Holt highlighted the opportunity of renewable energies and mentioned that there is an opportunity to improve energy efficiency in the current matrix. “We have large customers, a long history in the country and a very large market share in traditional energy production. Regarding renewable energies, I think they are moving a bit slowly. In hydrogen, we do not see the same activity as in Chile, Colombia or Mexico in the discussion of pilot projects. We believe that there is an opportunity in the electrification of gas exploration in the exploitation of shale. And in wind energy projects, ”he said.

The executive also referred to the Siemens Energy application center which operates in the local operation. “We have a large digitization group, which works for the whole Latam area. It works with existing clients to optimize their plans of operations, to be more flexible and efficient,” he said.