Green hydrogen project near Paranal astronomical site in Chile cancelled

A controversial green hydrogen project near Paranal, one of the world's leading astronomical sites located in Chile, has been officially abandoned after months of criticism over its potential impact on astronomical observation, authorities said a few days ago.

AES Andes, the Chilean subsidiary of the American company AES Corporation, intended to operate a 3.000-hectare site near the observatory located in the Atacama desert, in the north of the country, in order to harness solar and wind energy and produce green hydrogen and ammonia, a gas used in the manufacture of fertilizers.

"The environmental impact study of the project (...) is considered abandoned," according to a document given to AFP by the Chilean Environmental Assessment Service (SEA).

At the end of January, AES Andes announced the abandonment of the project, but it still had to be formally validated by the Chilean authorities.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO), which had denounced the light pollution of the project capable of disrupting the observation of the sky, immediately welcomed the planned end of this project called INNA.

"Because of its location, the project would pose a major threat to the darkest and brightest skies on Earth and to the performance of the world's most advanced astronomical facilities," said the Director General of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), Xavier Barcons, in a statement.

AES Andes had indicated that it was ending the $10 billion project in order to focus "on the development and construction of its renewable energy and energy storage portfolio".

Perched at an altitude of 2.635 meters and located several tens of kilometers from the nearest city, Antofagasta, the Paranal observatory benefits from unique atmospheric conditions that make it one of the most productive observatories in the world.

The site is home to ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), used by astronomers to observe the Milky Way. The VLT – itself composed of four individual telescopes – provided the first image of an exoplanet (a planet outside our solar system) in 2004.

The INNA project also jeopardized the proper functioning of the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the "biggest eye on the sky", according to the ESO, which plans to complete its construction in 2028.