The H24U project was selected by the Green Hydrogen Sector Fund to receive financial support for the implementation of the first commercial cargo transportation venture that will use green hydrogen as energythe Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM) reported on Tuesday.
The objectives of the call
The call, launched in 2022, was aimed at financing and supporting the construction, production and use of green hydrogen and its derivatives. The fund is carried out by MIEM, the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay (LATU) and the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), with the task of financing research, innovation and training projects in green hydrogen.
The open call for projects was carried out in two stages: first, a call for profiles, and then move forward with the complete presentation of commercial projects. The recommendation of the selected project was made by a technical committee made up of representatives of the Uruguayan academic sector (teacher and researcher at UdelaR and member of RedH2Uy), MIEM technicians and specialists in the subject from the Netherlands and Germany.
The selected project: H24U
The H24U project, presented by the consortium made up of the construction company Saceem and CIR (metallurgical), was the beneficiary of this call and will have access to US$ 10 million non-reimbursable, to be granted in a period of 10 years. This support will serve to develop a project that will incorporate the technology for the development and production of green hydrogen in different dimensions and productive areas. The project foresees an investment of US$ 43.5 million.
The first area of focus will be heavy cargo transportation, responsible for approximately 28% of the country’s energy demand (according to National Energy Balance 2021) and which is currently supplied almost entirely with petroleum derivatives.
The initiative provides for the development, engineering and production of green hydrogen that will be used in trucks that will be specially adapted, and will be destined for forestry transport, according to the MIEM.
On the other hand, in later stages, together with the Conecta company, the project could inject green hydrogen into the existing Gas Natural de Paysandú network. This initiative would be a first pilot that will allow evaluating its subsequent incorporation on a larger scale in the progressive decarbonization of natural gas networks.
These two initiatives are thought of in an integral way, developing trucks specifically for the needs of the Uruguayan forestry market and centralizing the production of green hydrogen in a single point to feed this same fleet of trucks.
The initiative will promote the development of regulations and knowledge, which will then allow the technology to be scaled to other activities at the national level, generating experience and inputs for the development of public policies focused on sustainable development, reported the MIEM.
H24U is a project with strong technology transfer from leading companies worldwide, which will also train Uruguayan professionals to lay the foundations for future developments for the growth of the green hydrogen industry in our country, the ministry added.
