During the AmCham Energy Forum organized at the Sheraton by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States in Argentina The production of renewable energy and the path towards sustainability were discussed.
The panel was moderated by Julian Guarinojournalistic director of the newspaper Financial sphereand counted with the participation of Santiago YanottiUndersecretary of Electric Power of the Nation; Paula AltavillaCEO of Schneider Electric for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and bernard andrewsCEO of Geneia.
Yanotti assured that the energy transition is not only important for the environmental aspect, but for the development of employment, businesses and national industries that it generates. “The first thing we did was give predictability to the private sector in a complex framework, and then regulate or allow, to make investment more flexible and dynamic. The electricity transmission networks were saturated and that is why we finished more than 580 high voltage works, and now we are launching more than 1,580 km more, for the future, otherwise we could not incorporate more renewables. This is how we recover 1,100 megabytes of power, ”he explained.
Tucuman Yanotti also recalled that a new tender for renewable projects with storage was launched -for the first time- for 2,000 megabytes and 98 initiatives for 600 megabytes have already been awarded. “Despite the difficulty of the networks and access to financing, we work so that the private sector knows where it is going, and thus we managed to increase the rate of investment,” explained. The undersecretary also stressed that the plan to exchange fines for non-compliance with RenovAr in exchange for genuine investment is in force, which provides for not paying fines for 15 years for disbursements for three.
Along these lines, Yanotti also said that the possibility will be open for private companies to join the works to expand the electricity transmission network, which until today has restrictions by law. “We hope to achieve this scheme as of October, when we receive interest from private individuals. The miners want to develop it in the Northwest and the same in Patagonia, for the wind sector. Thus, the generators are going to totally or partially finance the lines, which is why we want to leave the sector with the best regularization for the years to come”, he claimed.
bernard andrews He assured that if the State guarantees competition and regulatory conditions and mechanisms, wind and solar energy generation companies will continue to invest. “Today there is a set of projects under construction for more than 1,000 megabytes, it is complex, but the vocation is there”, specific. The Genneia executive mentioned a virtuous circle in this sector: industrialists demand green energy in the long term to improve the sustainability of their products, they hire renewables to produce and with that they reinvest in generation. “It is a convergence in the interest of the private sector. Renewable energy is competitive in itself, and the State in its role as planner allows it. The next step is to supplement the effort and stop crying about an electrical transmission problem and start building.”Andrews stressed.
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The businessman recommended starting with smaller projects and advancing in “bankability”, which is the work and dialogue with development entities and development banks. “They are always committed to the growth of renewable energy regardless of the political situation. We must recognize the effort that has been made in recent years. There are clear examples of what can be done”he stressed.
Paula Altavilla He considered that the “consensus” is the energy for development that the country needs and stressed that it is a “valuable” State policy, which has continuity over time. “In renewables, it is essential to work on the stability of generation, because there are climatic events that are not foreseeable, and storage centers are needed that can generate the resilience of energy. And also digitization to monitor the network and consumption, which is 50% of the transition and decarbonization process”, expressed in his presentation, and remarked that today buildings produce 40% of carbon emissions. “The use of optimization software and processes with data analysis in the cloud allows us to generate those savings that impact both costs and the environment, which is what we are looking for,” said Altavilla.
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Other topics on the panel was the integration of renewable energy with other sources. For Yanotti, the challenge is that the energy transition is going to take place in the electricity distribution networks and he stated that it is essential to adapt it for the future. “There is an increasing demand for power, and this is not accompanied by electricity consumption. Therefore, investments in high voltage are increasingly inefficient, from the economic point of view. Beyond the large consumers, the large consumer of energy is the residential user. If we can get that user to consume more efficiently, with awareness and economic incentives, but also with more technology, that would allow a more organized dispatch of energy.”he predicted.
Andrews said that users’ awareness of the real cost of energy will be key and anticipated a large consumption in the future from electromobility. “We have to introduce solutions that not only incorporate iron, but science, that is the great challenge of Argentina”, manifested.
The CEO of Schneider said that the consumption of electrical energy in the country is going to quadruple in the next 20 years, due to an increase in the population and the transfer of many activities that today still consume fossil fuels. “The world today is still supplied with 80% of fossil energy. The road is long and we have to travel fast. Smart electrification will allow us to manage consumption much more efficiently and better plan the supply of energy”, she concluded.
Source: Ambito
