CORFO awards almost $10 million to ENGIE green hydrogen project that will fuel Enaex green ammonia plant for mining explosives manufacture

Foreign investment has been key to developing green hydrogen in Chile. Initiatives promoted by Enel Green Power, Linde, ENGIE, Air Liquide, GNL Quintero and CAP have recently been chosen for co-financing support by Chile’s Economic Development Agency, CORFO, with the goal of speeding up the development of the industry in the country. CORFO has chosen six of the twelve proposals presented in a first call for applications to develop green hydrogen production plants in Chile. The goal is to speed up the development of these initiatives, which will be set up in the country’s northern, central and southern zones. They will allow Chile to respond to the challenges of climate change, as well as to promote investment in clean energy, job creation and business startup opportunities at the local level.

The chosen initiatives must begin operating by December 2025 at the latest. The projects will receive total development contributions of US$50 million, as soon as they install the promised electrolyser capacity and meet the established terms and conditions. Chile ranks among the best countries around the world in terms of its potential to produce and export green hydrogen because of the significant advantage in renewable energy generation offered by it having outstanding wind resources and the world’s greatest solar radiation.

“The projects that we’re supporting today, which have an electrolysis capacity of 388 MW, are equivalent in size to all those that are currently in operation around the world. With this, a pathway is being drawn out that will facilitate the development of future initiatives to install new capacities throughout Latin America in order to reach carbon neutrality. This places Chile at the forefront in the region,” explained CORFO’s Executive Vice-President, Pablo Terrazas.   

One of the projects is known as HyEx and is led by ENGIE SA. It aims to build an industrial-scale pilot plant to generate 3,200 t of green hydrogen per year, through a 26 MW electrolysis capacity in the Antofagasta region. The green hydrogen will then be supplied to global mining explosives & blasting technology major Enaex for green ammonia production, in order to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 30,000 t per year. HyEx is getting US$9,533,668 of CORFO funding.

Back in August 2021, Enaex submitted to the Chilean Environmental Impact Assessment System, its Environmental Impact Statement for its part of the HyEx project relating to ammonia synthesis. This project will be the first green ammonia production plant in Chile with an annual production of 18,000 t per year, created from green hydrogen and renewable energy. In addition, it will serve as a pioneer in the implementation and study of new technologies and efficiencies in the production of ammonia. The ammonia produced will be for the exclusive use of the Enaex plant in Mejillones, Chile, to produce ammonium nitrate, a fundamental element to supply the requirements in the blasting processes for the mining industry.

“Our company’s first value is the protection of life and, as part of that commitment, we are concerned about mitigating the impacts on climate change. Therefore, we are constantly working on reducing CO2 emissions and, to date, we have reduced more than 90% of emissions in our production process. Going further along this path, we are now focused on reducing indirect emissions of ammonia which is our main raw material. We currently import this input for the production of ammonium nitrate at the Prillex plant (350,000 t/y) in Mejillones and our objective in the future is to be able to fully replace it with an innovative, local and green production of ammonia,” explained Juan Andrés Errázuriz, CEO of Enaex.

Among the main benefits of this project are the significant development that an emerging and innovative industry can have in Chile; the development of advanced human capital and the generation of local employment; and the end of the production of ammonia based on fossil fuels, which today must be imported for the same production process. The plant will be located in the area where the Tamaya power plant is located, approximately 24 km from the city of Tocopilla in the Antofagasta Region of Chile. The facilities will include the construction of an air separation plant and an ammonia manufacturing plant. As stated, the hydrogen required for the production of green ammonia will be supplied by a future adjacent green hydrogen plant, owned by ENGIE, whose project was also submitted for environmental assessment in August.

“The most important thing for us is to be able to contribute to the development of green and carbon-neutral mining, as well as to the reduction of emissions globally. This project alone will mean a reduction of 30,000 tons of CO2 equivalent per year. The national and international mining sector faces very important environmental challenges that we, as suppliers, must face together with them. These efforts play a fundamental role in the sustainability of the industry,” emphasised Errázuriz.