The future of business for the countries of Latin America and, particularly, the Southern Cone, is on the verge of a boost in the current global situation marked by the increase in geopolitical conflicts and the need for governments to guarantee both energy and food security for their populations; but also for a change of global perspective towards energy and the need to produce with a lower impact on the environment. What role do they have? Uruguay And the other countries in the region?
With this premise as the starting point for the debate, Bridge and Economist Impact brought together a group of important businessmen from the sector at the event “The Future of Business in the ‘Southern Cone’ of Latin America” and, particularly, the panel “Driving the future: incorporating the Southern Cone into the global energy economy which he attended Scope.
On the premises of The Rural, in the City of Buenos Airesthe event brought together political personalities, businessmen and investors from various industries and countries, who discussed business opportunities for South America, mainly. And energy was one of the axes of discussion in the panel made up of the governor of Neuquén Rolando Figueroa; the executive director of operations Pan American Energy, Marcos Bulgheroni; the general director of TotalEnergies Gas Cono Sur, Soledad Lysak; and the general director of Schroders Greencoat, Coen Weddephol.
Although the main topics were the role of conventional energy sources such as oil and the gas in the current global context—and how these industries still represent important business and development opportunities for some countries such as Argentina, even in terms of generating resources to invest in clean alternatives—the role of the renewable energies as new alternatives to achieve investments and improve the region’s positioning in the world.
In that sense, Uruguay was given as an example of a successful energy transition by the president of Puente, Federico Tomasevich, where almost 100% of the electricity consumed is produced from renewable sources. Consequently, the volume of clean energy is attractive not only because of its lower cost—important in terms of efficiency for businesses—but also because of its wide availability for projects that require extensive consumption: for example, the production of green hydrogen —which requires large water capacity— or the establishment of technological initiatives such as data centers. In addition, energy surpluses are exported to neighboring countries.
As also highlighted by the president of the Construction Chamber and CEO of Saceem, Alejandro Ruibal —who participated in another panel but also spoke about Uruguay energy—today the country is a relevant actor in the green hydrogen thanks to your energy matrix fundamentally clean. “Today we have projects underway. We did a very serious job so that large investments can come to the country,” he highlighted, along these lines.
Green hydrogen and development and investment recommendations
“Now we are in the fourth industrial revolutionwhich has to do with the energy transition and artificial intelligence. The confluence between the two is extremely powerful,” said Schroders Greencoat director Weddepohl. “Compared to the internet revolution that began in the 1990s, the energy transition is happening more quickly and with a greater global impact,” he added.
“One of the projects of green hydrogen largest in the world is being built in Uruguay”, highlighted the head of the British investment firm in dialogue with Scope. The low costs of energy production for the production of hydrogen and the country’s large water capacity were key to this, he stated.
“The question would be: who is going to buy that and in what form? Since he green hydrogen It is quite expensive to produce, so it could cost 9 to 10 dollars per kilogram, but Uruguay “I could sell it a little cheaper than that due to lower energy and resource costs,” he considered, something that also makes it attractive to buyers. investors foreigners.
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Bridge
In any case, he assured that “for the private sector is practically impossible to produce” on your own and without subsidies, “so the government support It is in the early stages that it is essential, as is support from private banks in the form of loans for a project and having a long-term buyer from the beginning, not a buyer for one, two or three years, but a buyer who be willing to do it for the long term.”
In the Uruguayan case, these conditions would be met in the large projects that are on the table, both in the HIF Global as in the agreements in which progress is made with the European Union (EU) in this matter.
“The key is to establish what will be done with that green hydrogen: Do you want to convert it into green ammonia (from the reaction between green hydrogen and atmospheric nitrogen) and export it, or are there possible uses within the country? That is what we have to figure out, not only how to produce it at a lower cost, but also what its use will be, who will be the consumers of that green hydrogen and in what form,” Weddepohl recommended.
Source: Ambito
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