Linde company White Martins will start-up a new electrolyser to produce green hydrogen at its existing facility in Jacarei, São Paulo.
The five megawatt pressurised alkaline electrolyser plant will use renewable energy from nearby solar and wind power projects to produce green hydrogen for glass manufacturer Cebrace to reduce emissions from their glass melting furnaces in Jacarei.
Expected to start up in 2025, the facility will also supply industries such as metals, food and chemicals, among others.
“Investing in green hydrogen to supply the industrial heart of São Paulo reaffirms our commitment to the energy transition in Brazil,” said Gilney Bastos, President South Latin America at Linde.
“We look forward to helping Cebrace achieve its decarbonisation goals while also supporting merchant customers’ transition to lower carbon solutions.”
In 2022, White Martins became the first company to produce industrial-scale green hydrogen with an international certification in South America at its plant in Pernambuco.
A study by McKinsey published in late-2021 concluded Brazil was ‘one of the most competitive places in the world’ to produce green hydrogen.
The authors forecast that the levelised cost of the gas in Brazil would be about $1.50 per kg in 2030.
Abundant in solar and wind resources, the country could become a hotspot for green hydrogen, with more than 40 projects currently underway.
There are also at least 80 licence applications with the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and the UK ongoing.
However, progress is being slowed by the lack of a legal framework and regulations for both green hydrogen and offshore wind power generation.
The US Congress could expedite progress with bills covering both sectors expected to be passed sometime this year.
The majority of Brazil’s electricity is generated from renewable sources (93% in 2023) and 45% of the country’s overall energy is from renewables, making it one of the cleanest grids in the world.
A 2022 mapping exercise conducted by H2 Brasil, a project funded by Germany that aims to establish a hydrogen economy in Brazil, identified 42 green hydrogen production projects of different sizes and stages of development.
The majority are still in early phases and feasibility assessment, although some are in the implementation stage with pilot and commercial plants under operation.
