CARBON TURNAROUND was assigned by HIF GLOBAL, a leading player in the emerging hydrogen and e-fuel market, to undertake an in-depth analysis and risk assessment about legal and technical questions about compliance with the biomass sustainability criteria in the European REDII and REDIII directives.
HIF CHILE belongs to the international company HIF GLOBAL, a leading player in the emerging market of green hydrogen and e-fuels, with activities on a global scale. The projects under development are aiming to produce e-fuels based on large scale hydrogen production with electricity coming from renewable energy sources, like wind turbines or photovoltaics. HIF CHILE already installed a first pilot project in the Magallanes region in Chile. The scaling-up of this project to product large quantities of e-fuels for the international markets is underway. Another project of the same type is under development in Uruguay.
For the production of this carbon rich e-fuels, a sustainable source of CO2 will be required. It is planned to use for this purpose biomass which will be burned in a co-generation plant to produce electricity and heat for the e-fuel synthesis process. One target market is the European Union, where decarbonization efforts are promoted very actively in order to be the first carbon neutral continent globally. In 2018 the European Union did pass the Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II), which acts as legal framework for the EU-wide energy transition. Recently an amendment of this directive (REDIII) did pass the European Parliament, with tightened legal requirements and increased shares for energy from renewable sources. For bioenergy specific strict sustainability criteria have been introduced by these directives in order to avoid unsustainable use of this limited resource and to guarantee that biomass use leads to real and accountable greenhouse gas emission reductions. For HIF GLOBAL these sustainability criteria for biomass are of utmost importance due to the commercialization of their e-fuels on the European market. In order to be counted towards the renewable quotas and to get access to preferential prices (e.g. subsidies), the used biomass in Chile and Uruguay for the production of e-fuels has to comply with the stipulated sustainability criteria.
CARBON TURNAROUND was assigned by HIF CHILE to undertake an in-depth analysis and risk assessment about questions how locally biomass can be sourced and used for the planned purpose by complying with the strict European REDII and REDIII legislation. A comprehensive study report was elaborated with detailed technical and legal answers about relevant questions about this subject area. The study report will be used internally to define a suitable biomass sourcing strategy for HIF CHILE and will be used also in the communication with potential investors for the project.
CARBON TURNAROUND is very proud to have completed this important consulting assignment successfully and we hope to deepen our cooperation with HIF GLOBAL in the growing global hydrogen business.