HIF, Enel Green Power file EIS for 325-MW wind farm part of e-fuels project in Chile

E-fuels multinational HIF Global and renewables company Enel Green Power Chile have filed the environmental impact study (EIS) for a 325-MW wind farm project that is expected to feed a future green hydrogen-based e-fuels plant in southern Chile.

In their joint statement on Thursday, the partners said the Faro del Sur wind project would require an investment of some USD 500 million (EUR 489m), and would involve the installation of 65 turbines and a 12.1-km (7.5 miles) underground transmission line in Chile’s southernmost region of Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica.

The Faro del Sur wind farm is designed to accompany a green e-fuels plant that HIF Global, through Chilean subsidiary, proposes to build in the Cabo Negro industrial zone in the city of Punta Arenas.

The HIF/Enel Green Power proposal secured USD 16.9 million in state funding from the Chilean government in late 2021, in a tender for projects that promote production and use of green hydrogen and its derivatives. HIF’s e-fuels plant would rely on 240 MW of wind-powered electrolysers for green hydrogen and recycled CO2 to produce clean fuels.

Environmental permitting for the e-fuels component of the project will begin in the coming months, HIF Global president Cesar Norton said in Thursday’s statement.

The Faro del Sur facilities will be the first industrial-scale e-fuels project for the partners, coming right after their Haru Oni pilot plant they are currently building in Punta Arenas.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.978)

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