The scientific community is celebrating the cancellation of a ten billion dollar industrial project that would have threatened the clearest skies in the world in Chile’s Atacama Desert, as astronomers warned its proximity to some of the world’s most powerful telescopes would have irreparably damaged the best site on Earth for ground based astronomy. The proposed 3,000 hectare green hydrogen facility known as INNA had been under evaluation for almost a year before AES Andes withdrew the project. An open letter led by 2020 Nobel Prize winner Reinhard Genzel urged the Chilean government to stop the project warning that analysis showed INNA would cause severe irreversible damage by raising light pollution by at least 35 percent above the Very Large Telescope.
European Southern Observatory director general Xavier Barcons said they will be relieved the complex will not be built because it would have posed a major threat to the darkest and clearest skies on Earth and to the most advanced astronomical facilities anywhere in the world. Scientists warned the facility would affect readings by causing tiny vibrations aerializing dust that could settle on precision mirrors and increasing atmospheric turbulence arguing there was no need to place it so close given the potentially disastrous consequences. While AES Andes did not mention environmental reasons in their withdrawal and maintained the project was compatible with regional activities, astronomers emphasized this cancellation does not mean the work is over highlighting the urgent need for clear protection measures around sites where professional astronomy is carried out in Chile.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/10/project-cancelled-chile-worlds-clearest-skies
