Recently the event Latin America Energy Week 2022 brought together the main leaders of the sector and more than 4,000 participants from the region to discuss the need and opportunity for Latin America to advance in its energy development.
In a joint study between Siemens Energy and the consultant Roland Berger During the three days of the event, the opinion of the participants was ascertained regarding what they consider to be the energy priorities for the continent, along with opportunities and challenges.
The main priority identified in the study is that of achieve an accelerated expansion towards renewable energies. Today, there is a mature technology to implement it and the costs are increasingly competitive. However, although the progress of the countries in the region is good, there is still a long way to go.
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Another key point of the report is that energy storage is a pending and fundamental task. A massive expansion of renewables requires capacity to store energy in a sustainable way. efficient and safe. And the third priority point for those surveyed has to do with the decarbonization of industryas a fundamental aspect to decouple economic growth from the level of emissions.
Finally, the survey participants also considered that the resilience of energy systems and the realization of a just transition are important aspects. To ensure social acceptance, it is necessary to address issues such as equity of distribution and it is essential increase the number of people who have access to a stable and reliable electricity supplyan aspect that is not guaranteed throughout our region.
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A striking aspect of the survey is that it revealed a significant gap between perceptions and reality. While it is true that Latin America is a minor contributor to global climate change, it is also true that its emissions grew between 2005 and 2019 due to economic expansion and increased demand. However, the participants believed that the region’s emissions were reduced in that period and only 4 out of 10 correctly indicated that no decrease in emissions had been achieved.
From this panorama, the big question arises: How to move forward to make the region a energy powerwhich leverages its development while allowing it to meet the demand of other regions, contributing to the decarbonization in the new global context?
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According to the opinion of those surveyed, the three main areas on which work must be done to contribute to this development are policies, financing and cooperation. Technology is no longer considered a relevant problem today. In the energy world, investments they are capital intensive and take place over long time frames. Therefore, the political, economic and regulatory context must be favourable, and especially stable in the long run.
As the survey shows, cooperation and alliances in energy matters will become increasingly important. Some first world countries can contribute technological know-howexperience based on the path already traveled towards net-zeroand even financing, while in our countries we have exceptional natural conditions enough to be a reliable provider of clean energy.
so they can settle long-term win-win partnerships that catalyze the transition and accelerate processes such as the development of the hydrogen economy, in benefit of both parties and the planet.
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Of course, although the potential economic benefits for the countries of our region are obvious, it will be equally important to ensure that these benefits arrive and impact positively in society as a whole, especially in the areas where that energy comes from.
For this, it will be necessary to work strategically in order to enrich value chains and ensure the training of the local workforceinteracting with key players in the training ecosystem, such as technical education institutes, universities and research centers, among others.
In summary, the conclusion of this study is that Latin America has a golden opportunity to strengthen its role in international energy markets. In the short and medium term, you can supply oil and gas to the countries affected by the sanctions against Russia. In the medium and long term, it could become one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of renewable energy and green hydrogen.
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The call is then to the region leaders to work proactively, in order to streamline and coordinate the mechanisms that allow this strategic vision -which is not a dream- to become reality.
Javier Pastorino, Managing Director Siemens Energy – South America Subregion.-
Source: Ambito
