May 10, 2024 [Hydrogen Insight]- A $2.5bn green hydrogen project has begun construction in the Arequipa region of southern Peru, according to an official spokesman for Peruvian President Dina Boluarte.
Spokesman Fredy Hinojosa Angulo told a press conference in Lima yesterday: “They can now announce to the citizens of Arequipa, in particular, the beginning of the construction of a green hydrogen production plant, a very important project with an investment of over $2.5bn,” according to a report by government-owned news agency Andina.
But it seems as if the spokesman mis-spoke.
Hours earlier, the same news agency reported that the country’s first green hydrogen plant will be installed in Arequipa after South African developer Phelan Green Energy “expressed its intention” to build the $2.5bn project on a 4,000-hectare plot of land in the district of La Joya, near the Pacific port of Matarani.
On Monday, Peruvian news site Encuentro ran an article about Phelan’s plans, stating that the developer is currently “carrying out preliminary procedures to obtain the authorisations” to allow construction to begin.
Phelan’s general manager in Peru, Jean-Louis Gelot, is reported as saying that the developer is “in talks with the regional government for the use of this land. They hope to finalise an agreement in the next two months”, with the project officially launched in July 2025 — following the preparation and evaluation of an environmental impact study, which could take up to 21 months.
Gelot told Encuentro that the three-phase desert-based project would use 1.8GW of new solar power to produce 80,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually, which would then be converted to 440,000 tonnes of ammonia for export via the port of Matarani. Desalinated sea water would provide the H2O for electrolysers.
The Peruvian government announced on Monday that it would be the first green hydrogen project in the country.
The project site is adjacent to the regional headquarters of the Peruvian Air Force, which owns the land, but is making it available to the regional government, according to Andina.
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