Swindon-based Johnson Matthey is to supply cutting-edge technologies, equipment and advisory services to the world’s first methanol plant to harness energy from the wind, the Haru Oni project in Patagonia, Chile.

Being developed by Siemens Energy in partnership with Johnson Matthey and other major corporations including Porsche, it will be the world’s first integrated and commercial large-scale plant to produce climate neutral e-methanol and e-gasoline.

In Haru Oni’s initial pilot phase, the unit will be capable of producing around 900,000 litres per year of e-methanol as early as 2022. In two further phases, capacity is then to be increased to about 55m litres of e-fuels a year by 2024.