A group of Chilean scientists, conservationists and community leaders have warned that the development of large-scale projects in Patagonia – to support green hydrogen production – will have a devastating impact on the region’s biodiversity and landscape.
In a letter to the Science magazine, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the experts warned that the installations of hundreds of turbines in Tierra del Fuego could cause the deaths of thousands of birds, including endangered species such as the Magellanic Plover and the Ruddy-Head Goose.
“Based on information from the green hydrogen pilot project that is being developed in Cabo Negro (Magallanes) and using as a reference the rate of bird collisions in other wind projects in operation in central Chile, the researchers estimated that between 1,740 and 5,220 birds could collide every year with the 2,900 wind turbines that are required to be installed to produce the energy necessary for the generation of green hydrogen,” the letter indicates.
Companies, including Enel Green Power, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and TotalEren, are planning to invest billions of dollars to exploit the region’s huge wind potential to produce green hydrogen, ammonia and synthetic fuels for export to markets in the northern hemisphere.
TotalEren’s plans involve the installation of up to 10GW of wind turbines, or three times Chile’s current total wind energy capacity.
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