Installed at its 368MW Nehuenco thermoelectric complex, which supplies over half a million homes, the electrolyser is powered by an off-grid power system to provide hydrogen for cooling in the plant’s generators.

Representing a $1.6m investment, the facility includes a 100kW solar farm with batteries, the electrolyser, and storage tanks.

Hydrogen is used in large power plant generators as a cooling gas because of its high thermal conductivity and low density, which efficiently removes heat from components, thereby reducing energy losses compared to air.

Colbún has not disclosed the new installation’s production capacity, but said the installation would reduce up to 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

It comes as part of the firm’s strategy to modernise the Nehuenco plant, which has been operating since the early 2000s. Colbún aims to offer more flexible generation at the site to support renewable energy grid integration.

“We are convinced that this type of technological development will continue to advance in the country,” said Colbún CEO José Ignacio Escobar.

It also adds to a similar installation at the company’s Fenix power plant in Peru, which came online in 2024.