On April 28, the National Secretariat of Energy (SNE) will present the draft of the National Green Hydrogen Strategy (2030-2040-2050) for public consultation.

This was confirmed by Jorge Rivera Staff, Secretary of Energy of Panama, this Tuesday, during his participation in the Renewable Energy forum, organized by the European Union (EU) in cooperation with ProPanamá, Wallonia Export Investment and the chambers of commerce of Germany, France and the Netherlands in Panama.

Rosilena Lindo Riggs, National Undersecretary of Energy in Panama, who was also at the forum, announced that by 2030 the document establishes the production goal of at least 500,000 tons of green hydrogen.

With this, they not only seek to produce green hydrogen in the country, but to ensure who to sell it to so that job creation continues to take place. “We also want to send the right signal for the maritime, heavy lift and aviation sectors to see the benefits,” Riggs said.

The National Green Hydrogen Strategy would also propose generating a space in Panama to “supply” clean energy and transform the bunkering activity to 5% to make it green, this last process will include the maritime sector in its first phase and in a second phase to the aviation sector.

“That 5% not only represents what is going to be produced in Panama, because we are raising a memorandum of understanding with various countries that are already producing green hydrogen, because we want those countries not to see Europe and Asia as the only opportunities to sell their clean energy resource, but now they can see Panama as an alternative”, explained Riggs.

Another of the goals is the creation of a bill that will provide the same amount of incentives that renewable energies currently have for the production of green hydrogen and derivatives, including its infrastructure.

“Within this draft law we are promoting facilities for the port and logistics sector to promote this decarbonization, because we want countries to see a carbon-free space in our ports, while we are a carbon-negative country,” he said. the official

The National Undersecretary of Energy in Panama explained that the document will be presented after the first roadmap of the National Green Hydrogen Strategy was launched in January 2022 with analysis of the opportunities presented by the country and the acquisition of new clients in the process. decarbonization, taking into account that 29% of the cargo that passes through the Canal is fossil fuel.

“Through a year of work we did a complete pre-feasibility analysis to find out how much it costs to produce green hydrogen in Panama, how much it costs to transform that green hydrogen into green ammonia or green methanol. After all this process, we estimated the numbers to define the specific goals for Panama,” Riggs said.

With the implementation of the document, the official mentioned that although Panama has a very latent opportunity to continue positioning itself in the maritime sector, its participation in this market is practically from “zero”.

However, he said that “the role that green hydrogen comes to play makes it easier for us to take advantage of the geographical position of Panama and its particular relationship with the rest of the Latin American countries, which allows it to send the correct signal so that this acceleration of production and use of green hydrogen and its derivatives are given”.

Staff, for his part, pointed out that “green hydrogen is a great opportunity because of the role we play today as an energy hub linked to the Panama Canal and a source of fuel for the ships that cross it. In addition, we are talking about the fact that we can have one of the great low-emission fuels in the future and Panama is ready with the infrastructure and with the basic conditions to continue providing this service”.

Izabela Matusz, ambassador of the European Union (EU) in Panama, pointed out that the positioning of Panama as a “green hydrogen hub” is a policy that is as attractive as it is ambitious, which will undoubtedly also create important opportunities for cooperation and investment.

“With everything it is doing, Panama can position itself as a regional and global hub for the interconnection and distribution of clean energy,” said Marusz.