Porsche: Clean juice from the south of Chile
PILOT PLANT No empty words. Porsche and its partners at the Chilean operating company Highly Innovative Fuels have begun industrial production of synthetic fuel.
In the presence of Chilean Energy Minister Diego Pardow, the Haru Oni e-fuels pilot plant was officially opened in Punta Arenas, Chile. Porsche board members Barbara Frenkel and Michael Steiner pre-fueled a Porsche 911 with the first locally produced synthetic fuel to kick off production. e-Fuels produced from water and carbon dioxide using wind energy allow combustion engines to run on a virtually CO2-neutral basis.
Production of synthetic fuels
Barbara Frenkel, Member of the Executive Board responsible for Procurement at Porsche AG: "With a view to the entire transport sector, the industrial production of synthetic fuels should be further advanced worldwide. With the e-Fuels pilot plant, Porsche is playing a driving role in this development."
And Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Board for Development and Research at Porsche AG, adds: "The potential of e-fuels is very great. There are more than 1.3 billion combustion vehicles in the world today. Many of them will still be on the road for decades. As a manufacturer of high-performance engines, Porsche has broad expertise in fuels."
Target is a good 550 million liters per year
In the pilot phase, e-fuels production of around 130,000 liters per year is planned. The fuel will initially be used in lighthouse projects such as the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and in the Porsche Experience Centers. After the pilot phase, the project in Chile is expected to reach around 55 million liters per year by the middle of the decade when it is first scaled up. Around two years later, capacity is then to be increased to a good 550 million liters.
The wind turbines can run at full load
Southern Chile offers ideal conditions for the production of e-fuels. The wind blows so strongly on around 270 days a year that the wind turbines can run at full load. In addition, Punta Arenas is close to the Strait of Magellan. From the port of Cabo Negro, the e-fuels can be transported all over the world in the same way as conventional fuels and distributed via the existing infrastructure.
