The renewable H₂ (H2V) production plant installed at the Itumbiara hydroelectric plant (MG/GO) received certification from the Electric Energy Trading Chamber (CCEE), at an event held at Eletrobras, in Rio de Janeiro. The document proves that H₂ is produced from renewable sources. In Itumbiara, a plant under the responsibility of the subsidiary Eletrobras Furnas, production takes place through the electrolysis process, using hydro and photovoltaic energy.

The Itumbiara H2V plant was the first to come into operation in Brazil. Currently, accumulated production since the plant's commissioning in 2021 exceeds 3 tons of renewable H₂. The production capacity is about 100 kg/d.

"Renewable H₂ is one of the world's biggest bets for decarbonization and should be increasingly valued as the main fuel for the next decade. Brazil has everything it needs to be a renewable H₂ powerhouse, and Eletrobras, with all its expertise in clean energy, wants to lead this process," said Ítalo Freitas, vice president of Commercialization and Expansion Engineering at the company.

The company's eFuel Manager, Victor Hugo Goes Ricco said that the Itumbiara plant is a pilot project, a "study platform for the development of other projects aimed at the decarbonization of various sectors of the economy, such as agribusiness, industry and the transport sector."

The renewable H₂ production plant at HPP Itumbiara was inaugurated in December 2021, when tests and analyzes began to be carried out on the production and storage of H₂, its conversion into electrical energy and the insertion of this energy into the Interconnected System National (SIN). Subsequently, an operation and maintenance (O&M) project sought to develop procedures and technical instructions for plant operation, in addition to uninterrupted H₂ production tests to determine the efficiencies of the generation, storage and reconversion processes. Of the energy consumed in production, part comes from the 800 kWp photovoltaic plant installed next to the H₂ system and part comes from the hydroelectric plant. The hybrid nature and the combination of these two clean sources are the project's strengths, which ratify Eletrobras as the main player in the renewable H₂ production market.