Alert: National development plan to produce green hydrogen in State-owned lands

November 29, 2021 / By Felipe Bahamondez, Diego Peña and María Jesús Caballero.

On November 23rd, 2021, the National Development Plan to Produce Green Hydrogen (“H2V”) on State-owned lands was approved (the “Plan”) through the exempt Resolution N° 998 of the Ministry of National Assets.

The purpose of the Plan aims to impulse the use of H2V technology in an initial stage in Chile, through the opening of a unique window of time where interested persons in the development of this industry, may apply for direct assignation of onerous use concession (concesiones de uso oneroso), over State-own lands to produce energy and, consequentially, H2V.

The Plan considers, among others, the following criteria:

1. The assignation of State-owned lands to the applicants will be through a direct onerous concession, which could be up to 40 years. It will be an essential condition to admit the processing and to grant the concession; that the State-owned lands are available and have a planned use that is compatible with the purpose of the Plan.
2. The onerous concessions are subject to what is established in the norms of acquisition, administration, and disposition of National Assets (Law Decree N°1939 of 1977), to the standards of the Ministerial Orders and Manuals approved by the Ministry of National Assets, which regulate this matter.
3. The State-owned property assignation will be for projects that, at least, have 20 MW of electrolysers installed capacity, which covers the H2V production lands and those derived from it and the necessary easements over State-owned lands. Applications for concessions can also be made for renewable energies generation, when the conditions stated in the Plan are met.
4. Only the applications of generation projects whose energy is effectively used to produce H2V will be admissible.
5. Each company can apply for only one group of lands, understanding them as a polygon to produce H2V and/or its derivates, an electrical transmission tracing and access roads; and, optionally, a polygon for the generation of energy.
6. Also, the Plan establishes the information that must be filed at the moment of the deposit of the onerous concession’s applications and the requirements that must be fulfilled by the State-owned property assignees in respect to: the admissibility of the project’s entry to SEIA, timing for initiating the construction of the works of the H2V’s production plant and entrance into operation of the project.
7. The Ministry of National Assets will establish the concessional annual rent, based on the market values of the assigned property. The calculation and collection of the rent will be divided into stages: (i) study and construction; and (ii) operation.

Relevant due times to consider:

Contacts For more information, please contact: Felipe Bahamondez Partner fbahamondez@dlapiper.cl

* This report provides general information on certain legal or commercial issues in Chile, and is not intended to analyze in detail the matters contained herein, nor is it intended to provide particular legal advice on such matters. The reader is advised to seek legal advice before making any decision regarding the matters contained in this report. This report may not be reproduced by any means or in any part without the prior consent of DLA Piper Chile.