Fraunhofer Chile Research
- Thanks to the Fund “Crea y Valida I+D+i Empresarial Reactívate” from CORFO (21CVID2-183857), a team of researchers is working on a web platform to provide valuable information to estimate production and development costs of Green Hydrogen projects in northern Chile using solar energy.
Seeking to support and encourage the development of Solar Hydrogen projects, Fraunhofer Chile through its Center for Solar Energy Technologies - an international center of excellence funded by ANID - announced the start of its web platform project that allows a techno-economic evaluation of producing solar Green Hydrogen (H2V) in the north of the country.
Project Director and Researcher, Catalina Hernández Moris, highlighted that through this project "we will create a web platform that will provide pre-feasibility level information to investors interested in developing green hydrogen projects from solar energy in the north of Chile. This tool is based on a solar mix optimization algorithm for electricity generation from photovoltaic and/or concentrated solar power technology to estimate the production of H2V by electrolysis, as well as considering storage and transport costs.
According to the researcher, this platform will be technically validated with clients and a commercialization strategy will be implemented as a basis to offer the industry a valuable alternative to evaluate its projects based on a model of applied R&D services, developed by Fraunhofer Chile in conjunction with the company LIF Energy.
Platform for sustainability
For his part, the General Manager of Fraunhofer Chile, Dr. Frank Dinter, stressed that this initiative has a high R&D component, and seeks to generate technology transfer by providing large, small, and medium-sized companies better possibilities and certainty for the implementation of their projects.
"Our mission is to be a bridge so that German technological innovation can be adapted at a national level, offering sustainable solutions for industry and communities. We believe that the new platform for estimating costs around solar H2V projects is a perfect example of knowledge and science at the service of the country, since it is a tool that will be open access, free of charge, for which we also value the contribution that The Government of Chile provides through CORFO's Crea and Valida I+D+i Empresarial Reactívate funds; generating opportunities for innovation in the industry," Dinter said.
Business Opportunity
Business Development Leader, Marco Vaccarezza, emphasized that today the industry can find a great opportunity in business development based on Solar Hydrogen.
"Through this platform, Fraunhofer will provide substantive support to the industry, based on value creation from applied R&D in the field of Green Hydrogen. This platform will be a relevant support tool to address the important challenges that the Green Hydrogen industry must face for its large-scale development, thus taking advantage of the great potential it represents for Chile. Green Hydrogen can be one of the fundamental pillars in the decarbonization of our economy, giving us energy independence and at the same time constituting the basis of a new national industry of high added value, which will supply both national consumption and export of hydrogen and its derivatives on a large scale" Vaccarezza highlighted.