The 'low hanging fruit' for hydrogen in Latin America

Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia are the South American nations most likely to capitalize on domestic clean hydrogen applications, a new study has found.  

But the countries – which are also the region's four largest economies – face a difficult task to attract local demand for their hydrogen projects, according to the white paper published by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. 

"With its abundant hydrocarbon deposits and impressive potential for the development of CCS [carbon capture and storage] and renewable energy, South America presents as a continent where clean hydrogen – green and blue – could soon turn into an important sector capable of not only addressing some of the crucial decarbonization challenges, but also simultaneously generating significant revenues for nation’s budgets," the study said.

See the study in the Documents box in the top-right corner.

It described oil refining and petrochemicals, the production of fertilizers, steelmaking, energy and power generation and land transport as "low-hanging fruits" for the application of clean hydrogen.

Brazil, for example, was considered by the UK-based think tank as having the highest potential for decarbonizing its steelmaking and fertilizer production. On the other hand, it said incentives for clean hydrogen adoption in the oil refining, power generation and land transport sectors were "pretty weak."

Argentina, meanwhile, had "comparable natural endowment and potential for the development of both green and blue H2," the report said, adding that the country had considerable potential for sustainable fuel production serving the aviation and maritime sectors. 

Likewise, Colombia was seen as well-placed to ramp-up production of sustainable fuels while also utilizing hydrogen for long-distance and heavy-duty vehicles. 

Chile was viewed as the only country focusing solely on green hydrogen development. 

"This is partially why clean H2 is expected to play an important role there as a means of storing renewable power, which at the moment is massively underutilized," the report said.