25/3/24
María Isabel Muñoz Antonin
General Manager H2V Magallanes
A few days before the first anniversary of the constitution of H2V Magallanes, we participated in an emblematic session. We were invited by the Mining and Energy Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress, which held an unprecedented session in our city of Punta Arenas, to learn about the status of projects and the potential of our industry, with the presence of important authorities of the central and regional government and special guests.
It was a virtuous opportunity and another great milestone for the trade association. From a technical, frank and direct conversation we had the opportunity not only to contextualize the peculiarities of our territory, even reviewing some not so encouraging figures of the Region, but also the space to review the factors of competitiveness, the current international race in the Hydrogen industry, and perhaps the most relevant: the regulatory adjustments Sine qua Non -and therefore determinants- so that we can install this industry, starting with the streamlining of the processes of granting maritime concessions.
When the National Hydrogen Strategy was launched in 2020, the country was envisioned to have an electrolysis capacity built and under development of at least 5GW by 2025. It happens to be 2024, and that is why we alerted yesterday the representatives of the Commission in terms that every semester and every year that passes makes us lose position before the risk that the actions and current development policies of countries like USA, Australia, even Egypt and Morocco level our natural advantages and competitive factors for the large-scale production of hydrogen and derivatives.
These were some of our key messages: The Sector Permits Bill is post Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA). The terms of the environmental process are regulated in the modification of Law 19.300. Investments will arrive where the projects are, projects without ports will be unviable and we do not have more than 2 years to streamline and improve our regulatory system, unless we understand that we are facing an industry that can change our economy and its growth rate. Being conservative from an industry point of view, with only 2 mega operational projects, we would be talking about 4.5 points of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the future, so we are talking about a potential that can be transformative. In perspective, the projects are only one component of the H2V industry, here we will need an agile, joint and coordinated action with the State. We are not advocating for a fast-track LESS we stop meeting high standards. But we need the times stipulated by the institutional framework to be met.
Even placing our sector in a "distant horizon", we are against time for everything we have to do, for example in terms of enabling port systems and road network, optimistically aspiring to a construction phase of the first projects by 2027. Even with the environmental procedures corrected, the expediting of the granting of maritime concessions is still pending.
Given that the countries are not willing to have energy problems, ensuring availability and supply capacity, and that fortunately this is a region far from areas of conflict and with obvious natural conditions, investors continue to have their eyes on Magallanes, but we will not continue to be the "sexy investment zone" forever. Fortunately, at least there is a consensus that environmental regulation must be compatible with development and progress, because in the opposite sense, this would be unethical.
Sometimes, when we only talk about decarbonization, the transformation of the energy matrix or even the change of our productive matrix, it seems that we fail to take into account all that is really at stake.
Do we want to persevere in the secular economic stagnation of the last decades? Do we aspire to remain an energy-dependent country? Or do we do everything right and on time to become an energy exporter to the world? We have the opportunity in front of us and everything to do so.
We have the opportunity in front of us and everything to be able to do it.
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