"Green hydrogen plant in Uruguay faces challenge over water use", 18 July 2023

"...in Tambores, located on the border of the departments of Paysandú and Tacuarembó, people have regularly heard promises of employment and transformation, without the use of fossil fuels, emissions or pollution. But if this change is to involve green hydrogen, this will require use of the town’s water, from underground formations known as aquifers.

Hydrogen gas can be obtained through a process known as electrolysis, in which water (H20) is separated into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity – in the case of “green” hydrogen, derived from renewable sources such as solar and wind power. The hydrogen obtained can be combined with carbon dioxide to obtain methanol, which itself can be used as a fuel, or as a raw material in the chemical industry....

The Tambor project is set to be carried out by Belasay SA – a group created by the German company Enertrag and the Uruguayan SEG Ingeniería – and according to its 2021 preliminary report, will harness “the capacity of solar irradiation and wind resources” of the region. It claimed that the area around Tambores “has abundant water resources, particularly groundwater from the Guaraní aquifer, capable of supplying the hydrogen plant without affecting other uses of the resource.”

Three boreholes have already been drilled – with permission granted by the National Water Directorate (Dinagua) in November 2022 – to measure the water pressure at the 100-hectare site, to be leased for the next 30 years. The hydrogeological and geophysical study commissioned by SEG Ingeniería, seen by Diálogo Chino, states that “it is possible to achieve the necessary flow rates to carry out the project”. The project, according to company estimates, could require six such boreholes and would consume the same amount of water as population centres in Uruguay with between 2,250 and 8,400 inhabitants...

“Aquifers are rock units that contain water and are interconnected through fractures. The fractures cause the water from rainfall to collect inside, through which the aquifers are recharged, following what we call the water cycle,” explains Graciela Piñeiro, a biologist from the University of the Republic who specialises in geosciences. “Extracting water from one aquifer can affect the amount of water available in other connected aquifers,” Piñeiro adds.

The specialist, who has raised concerns over these potential problems with the authorities, says that the use of groundwater for a fuel generation project is unprecedented worldwide, and may compromise the availability and replenishment of the water system.

Piñeiro also warns that “the extraction of water from aquifers can cause land displacement due to the instability of the system” and that when water molecules are broken down to obtain hydrogen, the water cycle is broken....

Watching from afar, Tambores residents have questions over the future quality of their water supply, should the green hydrogen plant reach operation. “We are not fully informed about what they are going to treat, nor what the process will be like,” says Graciela Colman, who owns a shop in the nearby village of Piedra Sola. “From what little we know, they would be touching the Guaraní aquifer. They tell us that the area is going to grow and that it will generate employment during the construction of the project, but what will happen afterwards?”...

Óscar Núñez, a gaucho with Indigenous heritage who works for the Tambores municipality, also feels that the benefits of the new plant would not be for him or his neighbours.

“We are a rural village. We don’t have engineers, biologists, physicists or chemists for that kind of production. And it might take a long time to produce qualified professionals here in the village. So there won’t be any work in that area,” he says. Núñez says water is not as plentiful as it used to be, and claims that the Tambor project could cause major problems: “It will be a significant exploitation of groundwater. We are going to lose that water.”...

The February case filed with the supreme court was also directed against Belasay, alleging that the project violates article 47 of the constitution, among other concerns.

This article links the element of water with the most fundamental right to life, calls for “solidarity with future generations”, enshrines “the principle of putting social reasons before economic ones” and decrees that “surface and underground waters belong to the public domain of the state and are subordinate to the public interest”. Communities claim that permitting a private company to exploit these reserves contradicts this principle.

The residents’ lawyer, Grey Espinosa, expects news by the end of the year from the supreme court. He believes that the fact that the court didn’t dismiss taking on the case – something it was entitled to do – is a good sign.

Belasay, the lawyer says “has already responded to the court. They consider that there is no effect on the water resource, which is the reason of the claim.”..."