As anticipated a few months ago, Porsche and Siemens Energy have joined forces with a number of international companies to build an industrial plant for the production of ultra-low environmental impact fuel: the “Haru Oni” plant will be built in Punta Arenas, Chile. It should produce around 130,000 liters of eFuels as early as 2022. The capacity will then be expanded, in two stages, to around 55 million liters by 2024 and to around 550 million liters by 2026. These fuels – which can be gasoline, diesel, kerosene, etc. – aim to make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions generated by the transport sector.
Porsche will be the first to use eFuels in its combustion engine vehicles. “We also see ourselves as pioneers when it comes to renewable fuels and we want to continue their development”, explains in an official note Michael Steiner, member of the executive committee for research and development of Porsche AG: “The eFuels are in line with our global sustainability strategy. This means that Porsche aims to be climate neutral in terms of CO2 as early as 2030. Our icon, the 911, is particularly suited to the use of eFuels. But so are our much-loved historic vehicles, because around 70% of all Porsches built are still on the road today. Our renewable fuel tests are going very well. The eFuels will reduce fossil CO2 emissions in combustion engines by up to 90%. Among other things, we will use the first fuel produced in Chile in our Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup racing cars from 2022 ”.
Chile has set itself ambitious goals as part of its national energy strategy: the target is to produce the cheapest green hydrogen (i.e. produced from renewable sources) in the world and to transform the country into one of the main exporters of green hydrogen and its derivatives. , including synthetic fuels. The Haru Oni project takes advantage of the great wind, perfect for generating low-cost wind energy, in the province of Magallanes, in southern Chile. The operation of the plant is based on two phases: in the first, the electrolysers divide the water into oxygen and green hydrogen using wind energy. Next, the CO2 is filtered from the air and combined with green hydrogen to produce synthetic methanol, which in turn is converted into eFuel. The pilot plant is expected to start production in mid-2022. In addition to Siemens Energy and Porsche, HIF, Enel, ExxonMobil, Gasco and ENAP participate in the Haru Oni project.