Dominican Republic promotes regulatory framework that encourages the use of hydrogen

This MEM release was published using machine translation.

The Minister of Energy and Mines, Antonio Almonte, reported that the Dominican Government is working to establish a regulatory framework that encourages the use of hydrogen as fuel for the production of clean energy, thus contributing to the reduction of the emission of greenhouse effects that damage the environment. environment.

When expounding on “Hydrogen: Prospects for the Dominican Republic. Opportunities and Challenges”, at the Latin American and Caribbean Climate Week 2022 held in Santo Domingo, at the El Embajador Hotel, Minister Almonte stressed that hydrogen is a fuel for the future, and that the studies carried out on the date indicate that a hydrogen market cannot be aspired to without a high penetration of renewable energies in the country's energy matrix.

“We cannot consider hydrogen production until we have at least 30% of the national electricity production from renewable sources. For this reason, from the Government we are promoting the largest penetration of renewable energies in the last decade, an example is the renewable energy purchase contracts for more than 600 MW that we have signed in the last year”, he explained.

Minister Almonte announced the results of a prospecting study that the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) carried out with the cooperation of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the company Det Norske Veritas, whose content analyzes the potential application of hydrogen in the industrial and transportation sectors and in the Dominican electricity industry, its production cost and the challenges that the country must face to incorporate its production and use.

“To cite an example, there is no explicit mention of hydrogen in hydrocarbon regulations. Therefore, we are working on establishing a regulatory framework and some other regulations that should be updated”, he revealed.

Almonte pointed out that the government headed by Luis Abinader has made a great contribution to reducing the negative effects produced by energy from fossil sources, forming part of the vision of energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

"Each megawatt of solar or wind energy that comes into operation is the displacement of other megawatts that are produced with fuels that harm the environment," said the Minister of Energy and Mines.

He stressed that, although there is currently no local hydrogen production, the two turbines of the plants that will generate 800 megawatts of natural gas, with a gas terminal in Manzanillo, in Montecristi, are enabled to eventually work with hydrogen in a significant proportion.

"This means that the Dominican Republic is already introducing the technology that would place the country in a vanguard position in terms of the use of hydrogen fuels to produce electricity," the official emphasized.

During his speech, Almonte was accompanied by Mr. Miguel Peña, mining advisor to the Executive Branch; Rafael Gómez, Vice Minister of Energy; Rolando Muñoz, General Director of Mining and Gustavo Mejía-Ricart, Director of International Relations of the MEM.