This week, Corfo launched a call for proposals to award up to US$30 million in funding to one or more projects that install more than 10MW of renewable generation capacity in the country for hydrogen production before the end of 2025. The total budget that Corfo can allocate is US$50 million, which will be disbursed starting in 2022. Both local and international players are eligible to apply. The competition is part of a government strategy to make Chile a world-class hydrogen producer and exporter. In the process of receiving expressions of interest in December, Corfo received information on 18 projects, with a total estimated investment of US$12 billion in Atacama and Antofagasta. 

Chile has the potential for more than 1,800GW of renewable capacity, or 70 times the country's current demand, at low cost, which would make it one of the most competitive countries in the world for hydrogen production. For more information, visit https://www.corfo.cl/sites/cpp/hidrogeno-verde-chile. 

Several projects are currently in the early stages, such as HIF in Magallanes, to produce synthetic fuels from green hydrogen obtained from wind energy, and HyEx, in the north of the country, to produce green ammonia from hydrogen obtained from solar energy. The production costs of green hydrogen are still higher than those of traditional methods (from natural gas or coal, which have CO2 emissions) or production methods with CO2 capture (so-called blue hydrogen). A study by Belgian engineering firm Tractebel cited by Corfo indicates that Atacama and Antofagasta could achieve a production cost of between US$1.8 and US$3.03 by 2023.