“The world is talking about green hydrogen”, Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s president, told executives of state-owned oil company Ecopetrol in 2024. “And it does not use oil, coal, nor gas.”
Petro went on: “We have a new geopolitical role in the world. It is here that we can produce the clean energy they need there, in the [Global] North, to decarbonise.”
While Petro pushes for clean energy exports, his country has already been busy on the hydrogen front. Production in Colombia increased twelvefold between 2023 and 2024, largely driven by Ecopetrol, which tells Dialogue Earth it creates 130,000 tonnes of hydrogen annually.
But, while hydrogen is often seen as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, its greenness is far from clear-cut.
The promise
Hydrogen, which does not any emit carbon dioxide when burned, can be produced by various methods including steam reforming and the electrolysis of water. The latter method can use 100% renewable power.
The gas is classified according to its origin and the methods used to create it. These classifications are expanding with the sector. Colombia’s energy ministry includes: black hydrogen, derived from bituminous coal; brown, from lignite; white, from environments where it occurs naturally; grey, from gas; blue, from gas but with carbon sequestration; and yellow, from electrolysis powered by both renewables and non-renewables.
The green variety is produced using electrolysis powered entirely by renewable sources. Such hydrogen offers a seemingly promising decarbonisation route for various sectors. But although almost 100 million tonnes of hydrogen were produced globally in 2024 alone, less than 1% was derived from low-emission technologies.
Colombia plans to expand its own hydrogen production even further. According to its Hydrogen Roadmap, the government intends to have installed 1-3 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity for making green hydrogen by 2030. It also says Colombia will have produced 50,000 tonnes of blue hydrogen by the end of the decade, too.
There are more than 30 hydrogen projects in different stages of development, according to the energy ministry. More than USD 40 billion is currently being invested, including for production and extraction plans. Colombia even plans to encourage the transition of public vehicles to hydrogen fuel.
Where is it produced?
The government is betting heavily on the so-called Coral project in Cartagena, northern Colombia. This green hydrogen plant will use proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis, which is more efficient than conventional electrolysis. It will begin operations this year and become – according to Ecopetrol – the largest PEM green hydrogen plant in Latin America.
The Coral project is projected to generate 800 tonnes of hydrogen per year and have very low production costs, achieving USD 1.7 per kg of hydrogen by 2030. This does not account for transportation costs but the price appears to be competitive: in 2024, the IEA estimated that the cost of hydrogen production powered by renewable electricity would fall to USD 2-9 per kilogram by 2030.
Elsewhere, the Protium project from the domestic company Hevolución, produces 1,000 kg of green hydrogen per day in the north-western department of Antioquia, according to the company’s CEO, Diego Arboleda. This is then converted into ammonia and sold for use in the production of fertilisers, refrigerants and chemicals, and as a material for fuel cells that power forklifts and trucks.
However, the potential for wind and solar power generation is weaker in both locations compared to elsewhere in the country. Arboleda says the renewable energy supplies in Antioquia prevent Protium from achieving competitive prices: “We are currently at a price that is above the cost of grey ammonia, which is forcing us to continue looking for alternatives to reduce the price.”
The promise of La Guajira
Christoph Hank, a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, based in Freiburg, Germany has studied the potential of various regions around the world to produce hydrogen sustainably.
In 2024, Hank identified three regions in Colombia with high potential for green hydrogen production due to their climatic characteristics: the department of La Guajira, a desert area in the northern tip of the country; the area between the cities of Cartagena and Barranquilla, the main ports on Colombia’s Caribbean coast; and the department of Valle del Cauca on the Pacific coast, home to large hydroelectric projects and the country’s biggest port.
According to Hank’s study, La Guajira could be the cheapest region to produce hydrogen for the global market. The region is home to Colombia’s largest wind and solar energy projects.
“La Guajira has exceptionally low prices, even compared to other favourable locations in the region, such as Chile or Brazil,” says Hank. “It would be difficult for other regions of Colombia to achieve such low prices with their current energy infrastructure.”
La Guajira’s potential stands in stark contrast to its needs, being one of the poorest departments in Colombia. In addition, access to water, which is key to green hydrogen production, has been severely affected by mining projects in the past. Less than 50% of the rural population of La Guajira had access to drinking water services in 2023, according to a National Administrative Department of Statistics report.
“La Guajira, despite its technical potential thanks to all its solar and wind projects, comes with social challenges such as integrating local populations and Indigenous communities, water availability, and so on,” says Hank.
Meanwhile, Colombia’s Hydrogen Roadmap posits that promoting hydrogen projects will drive the development of desalination technologies benefitting both local communities and industry. The goals of this roadmap are to increase national demand for hydrogen, grow electrolysis capacity, and achieve a competitive price of 1.7 USD per kilogram. A review of these objectives by the Colombian Hydrogen Association (AHC) in May concluded that while “significant progress” had been made, there was also “room for improvement”.
The Fund for Non-Conventional Energy and Efficient Energy Management (FENOGE) lists two La Guajira hydrogen projects currently under development. Of the two companies mentioned, however, Colombia’s International Gas Transportation Company (TGI) told Dialogue Earth its pilot project in the region had been suspended without explanation. The other, AES Colombia, did not respond to our request for information.
The challenge of exporting
In June 2025, the energy ministry acknowledged another challenge of green hydrogen production: transportation. Hydrogen must be converted to its liquid form for optimal long-distance transportation. This involves an additional production process and the adaptation of containers for trains, ships or lorries.
Converting it into ammonia – as Hevolución does – provides another safe transportation state for hydrogen. However, Arboleda says this method does not appeal to international markets: “Consumers in Europe do not import ammonia.” He adds that additional challenges include securing the requisite quality certifications and investing in specialised vehicles to transport it.
According to the IEA, the main global hydrogen markets are China and the United States. Ecopetrol is monitoring emerging European and Asian markets. In a statement sent to Dialogue Earth, Ecopetrol said it sees China as a potential ally or investor, “because of its capacity to produce electrolysers and associated components on a large scale and at competitive costs”.
Currently, China is the world’s leading producer of hydrogen, although only 1% of its production in 2024 was produced by electrolysis, giving it the potential to be sustainable. The sector is therefore ripe for other parties to play a part in its development.
For the time being, Ecopetrol wants to encourage the consumption of hydrogen-based products within Colombia, in areas such as passenger and freight mobility and sustainable aviation fuels.
According to the Fraunhofer Institute report, Colombian green hydrogen production also requires significant capital investment and better training of key personnel. Even so, Colombia seems committed to green hydrogen and its aim to become one of Latin America’s main producers by 2030.
