This was one of the points raised in the first panel of the First Renewable Energy Fair and Conference, inaugurated by the Minister of Energy, Andrés Rebolledo, who pointed out that the challenges for the sector point to the development of greater transmission, energy storage and large scale and the increase in distributed generation connections.
ExpoERNC: National Electric Coordinator must not become an excessive regulator
Hugh Rudnick, director of Systep and academic at the Catholic University, stated that one of the future challenges for the electricity market is to ensure that the National Electricity Coordinator does not become an over-regulating body, due to the new attributions and actions it must carry out in the electricity market.
In the framework of the I Renewable Energy Fair and Conference, ExpoERNC 2017, the specialist said that the agency has the challenge of being efficient in its new functions. “I am happy that this Coordinator has been created, but be careful. From the external society we have to see how to adapt the Coordinator so that it really fulfills the functions to make the sector competitive and economic with adequate rules, but that it does not become a supra monster that ultimately regulates everything”.
During the first module of the conference, Rudnick pointed out the need for clearly defined “accontability” mechanisms in conjunction with the National Energy Commission and the other industry players.
Challenges
Minister of Energy, Andrés Rebolledo He led the inauguration of the event, highlighting the momentum that is gaining the demand for renewable energy by national and international companies in the country, which “due to corporate policies decide to buy this type of energy, such as the Metro and Costanera Center, because they have more competitive and cheaper prices”.
The authority headed the inauguration of the I Renewable Energy Fair and Conference, ExpoERNC.The event, which will be held until Thursday 26th at the W Hotel in Santiago, will showcase the latest technologies in the sector, in addition to the development of a series of panel discussions on topics of interest such as regulation, project financing, the future of energy policy and the incorporation of new technologies in distributed generation, energy storage and electromobility.
At the event organized by Technopress and the Chilean Renewable Energy Association (A.G.), Rebolledo pointed out that in March 2018 the installed capacity of NCRE generation will reach 5,000 MW, as 177 new plants of this type have been added since 2014, especially solar, wind and mini hydro.
For Rebolledo, other challenges for the sector are the adaptation of transmission systems to allow the participation of variable energies, in addition to developing large-scale storage systems to reduce the variability of solar and wind generation, and thus move towards a 24/7 system; the complementarity of technologies, where he highlighted the regulation of complementary services, electromobility and distributed generation, in which 50,000 connections are expected by 2030, so he said that possible improvements to the Net Billing law can be considered.
José Ignacio Escobar, president of Acera A.G. agreed with the minister on the boost in demand from large customers for renewable energy, pointing out that another challenge is the implementation of the next government’s energy program, especially in new technologies such as storage.
Rudnick also highlighted the key role that complementary services will play in addressing the variability of solar and wind energy, where there are plans to create tenders in this area, in addition to the new technologies considered by the distribution reform, such as electromobility, smart grids and distributed generation.
In his opinion, it is also important to face challenges such as energy efficiency, water rights reform, associativity with communities when developing projects and improving environmental approval processes, decarbonization of the matrix, international interconnections, and not incentivizing small-scale projects.
For his part, Iván Saavedra, head of the Electricity Area of the National Energy Commission (CNE), said that work is being done on the definition of energy storage, in addition to the regulations on the planning of transmission systems and the regulations on the valuation of these facilities.
[ExpoERNC 2017 abordará ocho ejes estratégicos para desarrollo del sector]
