Verano Energy, a leading renewable energy developer and EPC company in Latin America, announced that it has secured 2 strategic sites in Peru and Chile to generate 33.7 GWp of solar power for the production and exportation of green hydrogen. The projects will benefit from this region’s exceptional solar resource to produce the world’s cheapest green hydrogen.
The projects are located on the pacific coast and will pair up massive solar power and hydrogen electrolysis capacity alongside desalination plants, ammonia plants, and the necessary transport, storage, and distribution facilities. By 2030, the projects are expected to achieve a levelized cost of production well below $1.20 per kilo of H2, compared to estimates of $1.70 per kilo in Australia, the next most competitive market in terms of solar resource.
“Green hydrogen is the fuel of the future, which will decarbonize a range of energy intensive industries, including long-haul transport, chemicals, steel, or fertilizer. Scaling-up is going to be critical to bring down the costs of renewable energy and electrolyzer technologies for producing green hydrogen. Our strategy is to promote this technology at an early stage and produce the cheapest green hydrogen in the world at scale by accessing the best solar resource on earth by a large margin, which is found in this region”, said Dylan Rudney, Co-Founder and CEO of Verano Energy.
In Chile, Verano Energy has been awarded land in the “Ventana al Futuro” (Window to the future) bid process held by the Ministry of National Public Land, for the development of green hydrogen in the region of Antofagasta. It is part of the government’s strategy for the country to become the leading producer of green hydrogen and achieve net zero by 2050. With 32,000 hectares, this site is the largest public land tender for this type of development. It will feature a 27.5 GWp photovoltaic solar power plant to generate electricity and 25 GW in hydrogen electrolysers. The water for the process will be produced from a desalination plant and the produced hydrogen and ammonia will be transported via a ~100 km pipeline to the coast.
In Peru, Verano Energy has secured a 12,200-hectare site for a 6.2 GWp PV solar park in the region of Arequipa, through a private purchase. The site benefits from a surface albedo of the soils in some areas of almost 70%, making solar production with bifacial modules highly efficient and cost effective at >3,100 kWh/m GHI. Only 12km from the coast, a pipeline will transport the produced hydrogen and ammonia for distribution and exportation around the world. Thanks to these unique characteristics, the capex of the project is minimized, and the production cost of green hydrogen is extremely competitive.
Rudney added: “These land acquisitions are all located in the most strategically advantageous positions in the world. With these strategic projects, Verano enters a new and very exciting phase of its growth. As we shift our focus towards the large-scale competitive development of green hydrogen, we invite strategic partners to join us in this historic, and game-changing project and industry. Combined with our considerable experience as a leading project developer in Latin America, we are convinced that we are in an ideal position to scale up production and be a significant market player in the competitive green hydrogen industry to meet the massive upcoming demand for this revolutionary energy source.”