The Frente Amplio claims that this is a “blank check” with a Saudi company that will be the state’s competition.
UTE signed a confidentiality agreement with a Saudi company that intends to carry out a project green hydrogen in Rocha which involves an investment of nearly 6 billion dollars, which sparked questions from the Broad Front considering it to be a “blank check.”
The company Alfanar Energy Spain presented the initiative last year and aims to produce green hydrogen and ammonia between The Pedrera and the Chuy’s Bar, a project similar to the one promoted by the Chilean company HIF Global in Paysandú.
The director of UTE for the FA, Fernanda Cardona, He questioned the agreement, considering that it was signed “without an analysis of its benefits for the country,” and admitted: “The uncertainties and lack of transparency worry us.”
In turn, Cardona considered that “a blank check should not be signed with a company that will compete with UTE in generation,” referring to the energy market.
Environmental concerns over green hydrogen investments
Confidentiality agreements of this type have already taken place in other investments, although concerns about the environmental impact of the projects have skyrocketed due to the “secrecy” that governs the projects to promote the green hydrogen in the country.
In fact, the Sustainable Uruguay Movement (Movus) went to court to complain about the failure to comply with the request for information to Executive power in the case of the Paysandú project.
Although the judge Pablo Gandini ordered the government to provide information, the Movus spokesman, Raul Vines, He indicated that the specifications were not as expected, since a lot of information was covered by black lines and the agreement was out of date.
This lack of details generated criticism even from the coalition, since months ago it was the deputy Ope Pasquet, of the Colorado Party, who asked to “avoid a contract negotiated in secret as has happened with Mountains of the Plata either UPM 2″.
Source: Ambito
