Andrew Forrest, chairman and founder of Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), along with its CEO, Julie Shuttleworth, and president for Latin America, Agustin Pichot, met with the Minister of Productive Development, Matas Kulfas, and the Governor of Ro Negro, Arabela Carreras, at the Green Hydrogen Conference in Barcelona.
At the meeting, Forrest discussed the company’s progress on the US$8.4 billion “Pampas” Project in Rio Negro, as well as the need for Argentina to pass a Hydrogen Law to create a legislative framework for the growth of this fledgling sector.
Similarly, the businessman reaffirmed the necessity for provincial and national authorities to collaborate, facilitate, and commit to making the FFI Project a reality. “The formation of a law would allow the formulation of standards for the growth of the Green Hydrogen sector in the nation, as well as FFI’s collaboration with Argentina’s, the region’s, and the world’s decarbonization aspirations,” the business noted in a statement.
Fortescue presented its private initiative proposal for the development of a renewable electricity generation project to supply a plant producing green hydrogen and its derivatives to the Province of Ro Negro since the announcements made in front of Alberto Fernández at the Climate Change Summit in Glasgow (COP26) last November. On April 20, the provincial legislature overwhelmingly supported this idea.
The project is now at a pre-feasibility stage, which will determine its viability. FFI is conducting environmental and social impact assessments as part of the project’s initial phase, which is guided by Provincial Law No. 3266, which aims to safeguard natural resources while promoting sustainable development.
“FFI is at the disposal of the Argentine government to participate in the formulation of a Hydrogen Law, allowing the project to become a reality in the province of Ro Negro,” the business said in a statement.
Michael Dolan, Director of Science and Technology, and Stan Knez, FFI Technology Hub Leader, visited the Argentine provinces of Ro Negro and Mendoza earlier this month. His tour was intended to highlight Fortescue’s global efforts to develop the technology needed to manufacture green hydrogen and to foster collaboration with local scientific groups. They visited the Impsa facility in this regard, a firm whose majority stake is now owned by the National State and which will offer the wind measuring devices that will be used to designate the position of the project’s final wind farm.
Fortescue Metals Group, which is traded on the Australian Stock Exchange, owns 100% of FFI. It is actively developing a global portfolio of green renewable hydrogen and green ammonia projects, with the goal of supplying 15 million tons of green renewable hydrogen per year by 2030, with the goal of expanding to 50 million tons per year in the next decade.
