It isn’t a secret that Porsche, along with multiple partners and the Chilean firm Highly Innovative Fuels (HIF), we setting up a plant in Punta Arenas to produce synthetic fuels. That manufacturing facility, called ‘Haru Oni’, has now started industrial production. At the inauguration ceremony were the Chilean Energy Minister Diego Pardow, and Porsche Executive Board members, Barbara Frenkel and Michael Steiner. The latter performed the ceremonial fuelling of a Porsche 911 with the first synthetic fuel produced at the premises.
eFuel at the facility is produced using water and carbon dioxide using wind energy. Porsche says the fuel produced can enable the nearly CO2-neutral operation of petrol engines.
Frenkel says:
Porsche is committed to a double-e path: e-mobility and eFuels as a complementary technology. Using eFuels reduces CO2 emissions.
Steiner goes on to mention that:
The potential of eFuels is huge. There are currently more than 1.3 billion vehicles with combustion engines worldwide. Many of these will be on the roads for decades to come, and eFuels offer the owners of existing cars a nearly carbon-neutral alternative.
In the pilot phase, around 130,000 litres per year of synthetic fuel production is planned. The quantity will be initially used in lighthouse projects, such as the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and at Porsche Experience Centres. And once the pilot phase is over, the plant will be upscaled to produce around 55 million litres per annum. That should happen by the middle of the current decade. Two years later, the per year production capacity is expected to be ten-fold – 550 million litres.
The location of the plant is well chosen as well. It has been constructed in an area where the wind blows for nearly 270 days a year. That means the wind turbines can operate at full capacity for the majority of the year. Besides that, the Chilean capital Punta Arenas is close to the Strait of Magellan. Hence, it can be transported to other markets across the globe via the Cabo Negro port.
