An energy market simulation and forecasting platform is evolving amid growing demand globally for decision-making support in the sphere of clean hydrogen – including in Chile.
Engineers working on Plexos, provided by global energy market software firm Energy Exemplar, are establishing a standalone hydrogen module for clients.
Plexos helps investors and other stakeholders with investment and operational planning across the energy and gas industries, in traditional as well as emerging areas, such as Power-to-X and energy storage.
Hydrogen is currently included – and fully functional – in the gas modeling module of the company, whose main markets in Latin America are Chile and Mexico.
“The [hydrogen] module is already there, in the software: what we’re doing is moving it and changing the name […] to give it increased visibility,” Felipe Valdebenito, Chile-based principal solution engineer at Energy Exemplar, told BNamericas on the sidelines of a company event held in capital Santiago
Valdebenito said movement in the clean hydrogen space was more noticeable in Europe, which will need to import the energy carrier to help substitute fossil fuels to achieve energy transition and energy security goals.
He added that interest in hydrogen insight was growing in Chile, which the company entered in 2008. Energy Exemplar clients in the country include generators, transmission firms, national energy commission CNE and grid coordinator CEN.
“I’d say that since last year there’s been movement in this regard,” Valdebenito said. “Fortunately, our market is always changing, becoming more efficient. New technology that’s arriving is challenging to analyze, and, in turn, needs complex software like Plexos to find complex solutions.”
More than 50 green hydrogen projects have been publicly announced in Chile. The bulk, in terms of planned outlay, target the country’s sundrenched north and windswept south. Several pioneering projects, backed by state subsidies to support electrolzer acquisition, are due online by the end of 2025, geared to domestic offtakers. Larger, export-focused plants should enter service by 2030. Green ammonia projects, which target export markets, are due to start entering the environmental review system in the coming months.
CEN
Officials at CEN use the Plexos platform to support programming and grid works planning.
Raúl Cárdenas, supply research and analysis department chief at CEN, told BNamericas: “For many years we’ve been a Plexos client. It’s important software that’s used in different areas.”
He added that engineers envisage expanding usage.
“We hope, in the future, to also be able to use new modules, like what’s being done now with Power-to-X, specializing in hydrogen, or Power-to-X specializing in some other kind of future fuel.”