The discussion on which electric power production system is the most suitable for Latin America is placed in the main business, industrial or political discussion tables in the region. The decision remains conservative.
by María Cecilia Hernández Ocampo
Industries of all kinds: food, commercial, residential, pharmaceutical and everything in the world is produced requires energy, mostly electrical.
This is a topic that has convened in the last decade all sectors of the productive chain: academic events, forums, fairs, business roundtables and government meetings are organized around the topic.
The consumption of electricity is an issue that worries all spheres of society, especially for its excessive expenditure, which generates, depending on where it comes from, high investment costs and for the end user, environmental pollution, social impact, among other problems.
But beyond this, a conjunctural fact is the issue of the generation of that same energy.
What are the resources that are used to provide electricity?, what is the most appropriate production method depending on the geographical area?, what is the installed capacity of each country?, are there sufficient public and private resources to provide energy to an entire society?
These are some of the questions that are proposed in each meeting and that, even today, experts and decision-makers do not establish in a unified way: many consider that the unity of goals on the resource and consumption of electrical energy is a probable solution.
The case of Latin America is perhaps more complex. Due to their variety of climates, but little predictability of them, the irregularity of their geography and the large amount of renewable resources or not, the agreement on the best option to produce electricity has not arrived.
The Colombian case
In Colombia, for example, where the hydroelectric reserve is almost 70 years old, with a capacity of 90,000 megawatts, and added to this the country also has a coal reserve for 160 years, "it is secondary to think about developing energies with non-conventional renewable resources such as the sun or the wind," says Alfonso Salgado Triviño, general manager of ABB's power systems division.
The trend of positioning other types of non-conventional renewable energies such as solar or wind, which has also been gaining great strength around the world, experts have called "the trap of renewables".
It means, according to our guests, that there are resources installed in each country that the government has the obligation to attend, develop and in which money and effort must be invested. Without neglecting that these new alternatives can work in certain regions that present particular conditions, but that should not become the main national energy project.
"In our Latin American countries we have certain resources that must be used, on which we have no long-term availability problems. Oil, biomass, water, coal, among others. So, availability is not a worrying issue," explains Carlos Felipe Ramírez González, president of HMV ingenieros.
However, Ramirez emphasizes that the real problem lies in the issue of sustainability. "Capacity we have, the issue is to properly maintain and manage that resource. In the case of Colombia, where the primary resource is water, various environmental and social impacts are generated in the installation, for example, of a dam or a hydraulic plant. That's where the state must intervene."
The president of HMV Ingenieros sees with concern issues that are still to be resolved. As he argues, before thinking about the incursion of new modalities of electricity production, we must solve what exists.
"From the environmental point of view the transport sector is terrible and in the social issue we still have non-interconnected areas that do not have access to energy. We all know that energy is a source of drinking water, it allows us to have lighting, access to telecommunications. Not having energy means being a third- or fourth-level society, that's where I see the problem."
Necessity vs. trend
There are detractors of hydropower. There are those who say that they are not the best option, especially because in their installation processes sometimes they are not very rigorous in relation to the regulations and existing legislation and, depending on the topographic and ecological characteristics of the area where it is based, it could generate floods, loss of fertile land, overflows, destruction of fauna and flora and drastic changes in ecosystems.
For Alfonso Salgado, there are dramatic consequences by neglecting water resources and the installation of reservoirs, in Colombia it is rapidly being deforested, mining is wiping out rivers and the government is powerless in the face of illegal mining, which is a state problem. There is colonization at unsuitable sites and small hydroelectric developments in a basin where there are larger capacities. With an environmental license they kill the chances of doing big projects.
According to Juan Roberto Paredes, renewable energy specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), "water resources can continue to be widely exploited in many countries, but the price of hydroelectricity will not be as cheap as it is now because the best sites for hydroelectric exploitation, at least in Colombia, have already been developed; then it's going to be more and more expensive to produce energy with water."
The official assures that looking at new possibilities has nothing to do with a boom, nor with a trap, on the contrary, this trend arises from real and specific needs in each region. "If we take into account the current reality we can know that governments in Latin America have not strongly supported non-conventional renewable energies. Still, I don't think that effort will be detrimental to hydroelectricity, on the contrary, it is a good complement."
For his part, the ABB representative has an opposite vision: "The European situation has led to countries not being able to sell wind energy (which they have enough) to nations such as Spain, Portugal or Greece. Consequently, I think there is a lot of lobbying for Latin America to adopt subsidies or specific auctions for this type of energy." Says.
Salgado emphasized that the energy matrix of a country like Colombia, a leader in water resources, is clean, "so if I introduce an unconventional renewable with a subsidy I will displace hydroelectricity and I will pay more. The government has to have an awareness about what renewables they want to have, in what percentage and analyze that the energy matrix is better and cleaner every time."
However, several studies carried out by international entities related to sustainable development maintain that it is possible, and even healthy, to combine energy production systems. According to the IDB, wind is complemented very well with hydraulics, "when it rains there is no wind, in this case the water resource would be activated and in periods of drought, on the other hand, there is a lot of wind, proper to develop wind energy. They are ideal companions," says Paredes.
The situation is synthesized in a trilemma: the balance must be found between economic growth, social balance and respect for the environment.
According to Carlos Felipe Ramírez, "a company will never invest in an energy that does not close it financially, as in the case of unconventional ones. It is the State that has to go forward with investments and perhaps private companies as a public interested party press for energy for all those who do not have at the moment. That initial investment is very high."
On average, Latin American energy is not very expensive, in the case of Venezuela it is fully subsidized; Peru, on the other hand, where they operate basically with gas, also have subsidies and the cost is very low; Argentina produces energy with liquid fuels and is also subsidized. Colombia, on the other hand, has one of the highest costs, without being very expensive, because the initial investment to produce hydroelectricity is higher and is not subsidized, Salgado explains.
Urgent integration
What all the guests do agree on is the need, or better, the urgency of creating a regional alliance capable of integrating, from any point of view, (economic, political, standardization, among others) in the production and consumption of energy.
Such is the case of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in its Central American integration, where after 20 years of constant work, seven countries from Panama to Guatemala have managed to integrate and overcome all regulatory, political and technical barriers to harmonize their markets, their tariffs and their contracts not only in what has to do with energy.
"This is going to help stabilize the technical part, the supply networks, because these are small and weak systems and the fact that they are interconnected is going to help the overall stability of that system. For example, if there is an energy surplus in Costa Rica, it will be transferred to Panama or vice versa. For renewable energies it is important because they are not as predictable as other types of energy, situations can arise, for example, of more wind in one country and it will be able to transfer this reserve to another country, "explained the IDB representative.
On this subject there is still much to be said, much to discuss and to be decided. Not everything is written and the actors and decision-makers of the countries of the region still do not agree. Meanwhile, glaring facts such as global warming, the destruction of natural resources and damage to the environment, as well as social impact, remain urgent issues.
The options are served and even today many others designed under the philosophy of "the least possible damage" continue to appear, perhaps there is a lack of investment, decision or political and industrial will.
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