Representatives of the international energy company Solek visited the San Antonio port area to determine the area where a green hydrogen demonstration plant could be installed.

Solek representatives met with the general manager of Puerto San Antonio, Luis Knaak, and part of the professional team that is in charge of advancing the pre-feasibility study underway and that hopes to determine what type of port equipment could use this fuel. which will reduce the carbon footprint of the operations of the country's main port terminal.

From the energy company they highlighted the characteristics of San Antonio to be a producer of said element and explained that the plant will be powered by a renewable energy source, an essential condition for the "green" denomination, and water (H2O), elements that, through a process of electrolysis, they dissociate into hydrogen and oxygen.

"Strategically, the place that we are analyzing for the location of the demonstration plant is very good because it has great accessibility for the terminals," explained Solek's commercial manager, Mario Gómez.

Gómez added that "we have budgeted to work rapidly on this demonstration plant and we hope that the production of the first molecule will be in 2023."

Professionals from Puerto San Antonio accompanied the executives on a tour of the port's facilities in order to recognize on the ground the opportunities that this project has.

“With Solek we have held frequent meetings to advance this project. They got to know the port and now they must size the characteristics of the demonstration plant. For our part, we are going to continue the coordination with the terminals to finalize the stage of the pre-feasibility study with the purpose of sizing the demand for the definitive plant that allows us to operate with green hydrogen”, assured the general manager of Puerto San Antonio, Luis Knaak. .

While the head of Sustainability of the port company, Héctor Marchant, concluded that “what is intended here is to work with an energy source that is friendly to the environment. It is a tremendous opportunity for the country and we believe that Chile's main port must rise to the occasion”.

Marchant highlighted that, in November 2021, executives from Puerto San Antonio and Solek signed the framework agreement that has allowed progress in the studies and coordination that make this green energy initiative viable.