Large capital requirements in the hydrogen space will likely compel Verano Energy to take on the first equity partner, or partners, in its 11-year history, CEO Dylan Rudney said on the sidelines of the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam.
To date the company, based in Santiago, has connected more than 45 renewable energy plants to the grid and has a pipeline of 3,000 MW of new pv solar. The hydrogen projects are in the permitting stage with land secured.
A 5 GW project is planned in southern Peru and the company is eyeing another location in northern Chile to produce up to 20 GW, Rudney said.
“We’re just starting,” Rudney said, noting that the company is owned entirely by himself and his co-founding partner. They plan to invest in the projects themselves up to FID but will have to take on strategic equity investment along with project finance to build the facilities.
“The capital comes with the offtake,” he said, noting that the offtake environment is challenging. The vision is to produce ammonia for export to Europe.
The first phases of each project will require some $3bn of capital, he said. The first phase is the most expensive, Rudney said, as it covers most of the capex; additional phases typically focus on renewables and electrolysis buildout and upscaling output.
The Peru project should reach FID in 1Q25, Rudney said. The Chile project will come later, in 2027.
The developer has worked with Chilean firm Hudson Partners in the past and is close to mandating another advisor, Rudney said. Moving forward the company is open to establishing new relationships.
To date Verano has raised about $1bn in committed capital and deployed about half of that, Rudney said.
