EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said that will be financed projects in Argentina linked to the production and transportation of green hydrogenas is being done in Chile. Specialists welcome the initiative but warn about the two-year term of adhesion to the RIGI, when projects of this caliber “They take at least twenty years to mature.”.
“We are looking for How to replicate the US$ 200 million here which is now being given to Chili“for the same purpose,” explained official Simson in a meeting with the Secretary of Energy, Eduardo Chirillo.
The announcement is part of a total investment of US$ 45 billion in Latin America and the Caribbean diversified in 130 renewable energy projects.
The initiative was confirmed by Simson during the meeting Dialogue on Energy Transition and Green Hydrogen Organized by the Delegation of the European Union in Argentina, the Environmental Policy Circle and the Center for Studies of Energy Regulatory Activity (CEARE).
“The energy transition needs a network of partners. That is why the European Union has started deep relationships with different countries. And one of these relationships is with Argentina. We have a good foundation and in the coming years we will be a major demand for green hydrogen. “This is the time to build and deepen relations with the energy sector,” he said.
Also, a new project is already underway hydrogen cooperation projector for a value of 4 million eurosthrough the EU Global Gateway programme. The initiative provides technical assistance to support the energy dialogue between the EU and Argentina and will help promote trade and investment in renewable hydrogen.
In this context, before the end of the year A team of Argentine experts in the field will visit the EU to participate in energy events and discuss how to deepen energy cooperation between both parties.
Simson also confirmed that other energy initiatives will be carried out, such as the Expansion and modernization of the electricity transmission network and workshops on the certification of renewable hydrogen under EU delegated acts for renewable fuels of non-biological origin.
The meeting was held to celebrate the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Union (EU) and Argentina in the field of renewable energy, green hydrogen and the reduction of methane emissions, which was signed in 2023.
“The Memorandum of Understanding includes concrete actions that can provide significant and complementary benefits, while working on the decarbonization of the economy and both economies are boosted. These initiatives can help Argentina create higher value-added goods that drive economic development and increase the prosperity of its citizens, while EU can gain reliable access to key energy products“, the European Union official explained.
Juan Carlos Villalongain charge of energy and climate change within the Environmental Policy Circle (CPA) maintains that Argentina needs “three basic things” to be able to develop the green hydrogen projects framed in this agreement.
The first has to do with the fiscal and exchange rate stability, and the free availability of foreign currency that the RIGI. However, he warns that the period of adhesion of the projects “It’s only two years old”, when in hydrogen “We are talking about a market that will mature over the next twenty years.“The projects will begin operating over a very long period of time, and that will depend on the speed at which the market becomes structured,” explains the specialist.
On the other hand, it is considered necessary “to consolidate bilateral cooperation ties, such as with the EU”, to develop long-term industrial projects. “Hydrogen will flow based on bilateral agreements, very different from the price of commodities,” he explains to this medium.
The importance of its production has to do with the fact that it is an industry “that generates quality jobs and exports with great impact on our country” and integrates Argentina into a “new industry“which is born from the energy transition.
Argentina in particular has “huge renewable resources”, such as the sun and wind, to generate energy. In this sense, wind energy in Patagonia will be the basis for the production of hydrogen and its derivatives. Clean and abundant electrical energy allows obtaining hydrogen by electrolysis of waterThis hydrogen is the basis for obtaining multiple products that will be inputs for the energy and chemical industry.
Chirillo, for his part, presented to Simson a bilateral roadmap that includes, among other points, facilitating the “matching“between supply and demand in LNG and renewable hydrogen purchase operations.
The Secretary of Energy determined that they will seek an export energy model and that “Public investment will be left as the driving force of investment” so that private investment can play that role.
In order for investments to be made, the Government is betting on the entry into force of the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI): “It is an oasis in the desert for certain sectors“, compared the energy portfolio official.
Source: Ambito
