The National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM) and the Uruguayan Technological Laboratory (LATU) created the Green Hydrogen Sectoral Fund, with the aim of financially supporting research, innovation and training projects on green hydrogen.

In this way, funding and support is provided for the construction, production and use of green hydrogen and its derivatives, such as through heavy-duty transport or buses.

Also included are plans related to e-methane, e-kerosene, green fertilisers and blending with natural gas.

Uruguay thus seeks the economic and sustainable development of the country, contributing to the decarbonisation of the energy and production matrix at national and global level.

Furthermore, by supporting the implementation of a pilot project, it will lay the foundations for the replication of entrepreneurship and business models in the field of green hydrogen, thus contributing to accelerate the energy transition and the development of markets.

The call for proposals

The call is open to different possibilities in terms of renewable energy source, scale and location. The minimum scale of the project will be 1.5 MW of electrolyser power.

The project may be considered as the initial phase of a scalable project at a later stage and is administered as a two-stage tender: presentation of profiles and presentation of the plan.

Proposals may be submitted by national legal entities, as well as consortiums of national and foreign legal entities from the private sector based in the country, with a proven track record and experience in the installation and operation of electrolysers of at least 1 MW of nominal power.

The support will be up to USD 10 million in the form of non-refundable financing. The awarded benefit will be distributed over a period not exceeding 10 years from the start of operation of the plant.

In other words, financial support will not be provided during the installation stage of the plant and works and the contributions will be transferred to the beneficiary annually and according to the fulfilment of pre-established milestones.

Priority will be given to projects proposing an early entry into operation and the maximum date for entry into operation will be December 2025.

Based on the result of an evaluation carried out by the Agenda Committee, the profiles that comply with the terms of the call will be selected, who will be invited to present the Projects within a stipulated period.

The Agenda Committee may decide to support more than one project, and may award less than the amounts requested.