Corfo launched this week a call for proposals to grant up to US$30mn in financing 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$50mn, to be disbursed starting in 2022. Both local and international players can apply. The competition is part of a government strategy to turn Chile into a world-class hydrogen producer and exporter. In the process of receiving samples of interest carried out in December, Corfo received information from 18 projects, with an estimated total 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, and at low cost, which would allow it to be one of the most competitive countries in the world in hydrogen production. For more information, please visit https://www.corfo.cl/sites/cpp/hidrogeno-verde-chile.

There are currently several projects in the initial stage, such as HIF in Magallanes, to produce synthetic fuels from green hydrogen obtained with wind energy, and HyEx, in the north of the country, to produce green ammonia from hydrogen obtained with solar energy. The production costs of green hydrogen are still above 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 the Belgian engineering firm Tractebel cited by Corfo indicates that Atacama and Antofagasta could reach a production cost of between US$1.8 and US$3.03 by 2023.