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ENVIRONMENT-ARGENTINA:
Clean Patagonian
Energy from Wind and Hydrogen
Marcela
Valente*
BUENOS AIRES, (Tierramérica) - A
laboratory situated in the
southern Patagonia region of
Argentina is producing hydrogen
from wind energy to supply power
to a village -- and prove that
it is possible to replace the
polluting fuels derived from
petroleum.
At the centre of the project in
the community of Koluel Kaike,
home to 200 people, is a
technology that combines wind
and hydrogen energy. The goal is
to achieve the capacity to meet
the energy demands of 500 people
by 2008 in this town 2,000 km
south of Buenos Aires.
''The aim is that the
development commission, homes,
schools, cars, farm machinery --
everything in Koluel Kaike, will
run on hydrogen,'' engineer Juan
Carlos Bolcich, president of the
Argentine Hydrogen Association,
which is promoting the project,
told Tierramérica.
The hydrogen plant is located 23
km from Koluel Kaike, in Pico
Truncado, Santa Cruz province,
and home to 15,000 people, a
third of whom are already
supplied by wind-generated
electricity, despite the area's
wealth of petroleum and natural
gas reserves.
Patagonia has extraordinary
potential for wind energy due to
its strong and constant windy
climate. With that power, the
windmills of the hydrogen plant
produce electricity that feeds
an electrolyser.
Through electrolysis, water
molecules are broken down into
hydrogen and oxygen. The
procedure permits the storage of
hydrogen, already proven
successful as a fuel for
engines. The energy can be
stored for use during windless
days or for distribution within
Argentina or sold abroad.
''Hydrogen is on its way to
replacing petroleum. Fossil
fuels contaminate, they are
expensive, but hydrogen is
inexhaustible,'' said Bolcich.
The Patagonian energy project is
a candidate for inclusion on the
list of what are known as Clean
Development Mechanisms under the
Kyoto Protocol on climate change
-- energy technologies that do
not emit so-called greenhouse
gases that contribute to global
warming.
The ''Wind-Hydrogen'' project is
the South American chapter of a
broader programme of the
International Centre for
Hydrogen Energy Technology of
the United Nations Industrial
Development Organisation (UNIDO).
The international programme is
under way in small scale
projects on five continents.
China is producing hydrogen from
hydraulic sources; in Libya the
effort aims to complete the
cycle with solar energy; in
Turkey experts will test using
the new fuel in public
transportation; and in Oceania
hydrogen is being produced from
biomass (organic materials).
Hydrogen is the most basic and
most abundant element in nature,
and its combustion is totally
clean. The problem is that
hydrogen is not found isolated
on its own, but as part of
compounds, and production of
hydrogen, through electrolysis,
requires expending energy.
''The debate is centred on the
energy utilised to produce it,''
says Juan Carlos Villalonga, an
energy expert with the
ecological watchdog organisation
Greenpeace.
''If hydrogen is co-opted by the
producers of nuclear energy or
petroleum, then it will be
'dirty' hydrogen,'' Villalonga
told Tierramérica. But the
combination of hydrogen
production with wind energy is
ideal, he added.
''Hydrogen has enormous
potential because it is easily
stored. It will permit
(Argentina's) energy matrix --
which today has only marginal
renewable energy sources -- to
make a jump towards relying
solely on those sources,'' he
said.
But how much more expensive than
fossil fuels will it be to
produce hydrogen from clean
energy sources? For the moment
it remains a costly venture,
although the rising petroleum
prices contribute to reducing
that gap.
Bolcich believes that the rise
in the price of crude and
looming depletion of oil
reserves are creating a scenario
in which wind energy is
increasingly competitive. ''By
2009 the two energy sources will
be competing throughout all of
Patagonia,'' he predicts.
But that future requires local
effort and international
cooperation.
The objective of the Pico
Truncado hydrogen plant is to
produce the gas in compliance
with all safety regulations,
prove that it can work as energy
for electrical equipment,
vehicles, and industrial
machinery, and evaluate the
costs involved in its widespread
use.
Furthermore, the laboratory will
work to optimise each stage of
production, experiment with
managing the fuel for storage
and transport, and train
specialised staff in this
technology and its inputs.
The project also seeks to
disseminate the use of hydrogen
as fuel. ''Petroleum production
is very concentrated (in the
hands of a few), but this would
be more democratic because
hydrogen belongs to everyone,''
says engineer Bolcich.
(* Originally published May 7 by
Latin American newspapers that
are part of the Tierramérica
network. Tierramérica is a
specialised news service
produced by IPS with the backing
of the United Nations
Development Programme and the
United Nations Environment
Programme.)
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