The head of the SAE, Mercedes Marcó del Pont, presented together with the governor of Chubut, Mariano Arcioni and the Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royón, the National Strategy for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy (ENH) in Comodoro Rivadavia. The event included the participation of businessmen, union members, researchers, officials, mayors and legislators who participated in the meeting.
“The development of the hydrogen economy offers a future agenda for Argentina. The emergence of this new productive vector represents an opportunity for industrialization, job creation, value addition and territorial development. Achieving this requires avoiding free market recipes and betting on an active State to guide the process,” said the Secretary of Strategic Affairs, Mercedes Marcó del Pont, during the presentation of the National Strategy for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy (ENH) in Commodore Rivadavia. The official visited the Hychico pilot plant that has been producing high-purity green hydrogen since 2008.
“The economic development of the province, Patagonia and the country requires clean energy and infrastructure works. We need certainties that allow us to build public policies to promote investments linked to the energy transition. Chubut is a pioneer in the development of the hydrogen economy,” said Governor Arcioni when leading the opening of the meeting where more than 80 representatives of chambers, companies, unions and universities as well as national and provincial authorities were present.
For her part, the Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royón, highlighted that “Argentina is among the few countries that have a roadmap that reflects the policy, a hydrogen economy bill that is aimed at providing predictability in a emerging sector; and a sustainability framework for harmonious development with job creation and national industry.”
The ENH establishes the guidelines to industrialize low-emission hydrogen in Argentina, based on the integration of natural resources and industrial, scientific and technological capabilities. The objective set by the SAE together with different areas of the Executive Branch, the provinces, unions and the private sector is to take advantage of the energy transition as an opportunity for fair and sustainable productive development, which promotes job creation with a federal perspective. .
“We have to define how we want to participate in the energy transition. The free market recipe crystallizes a passive role for the country as a mere exporter of natural resources. We are clear that public policies and a present State are necessary to set priorities and develop our natural resources with a federal perspective,” said Marcó de Pont.
In that sense, the head of the SAE emphasized that “the roadmap drawn has all the conditions to be a State policy that promotes development, it is a possible path, there is no voluntarism in the proposed route. We know that what we propose is a country model and that is what is in dispute in the elections.”
“Argentina is in favorable conditions to promote the hydrogen economy and its entire value chain. The geographical, industrial and scientific peculiarities of the country position it as a privileged place to face the industrialization of hydrogen and become an international supplier of this new source of energy. We have great potential for the generation of green, pink and blue hydrogen,” said Royón.
The ENH projects that Argentina will reach a production of 5 million tons per year of low-emission hydrogen by 2050. Official estimates predict that the development of the activity will boost the creation of more than 80,000 qualified jobs. During the day, the second participatory workshop of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the low-emission hydrogen sector was held. The process seeks to offer a framework of sustainability for the development of the activity in Argentina.
Source: Ambito
