Chile. The Mining and Energy Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile obtained the approval of the project that encourages the development of residential generators. The legal proposal was initiated in motion in 2013, in the Senate.
It arrived at the Chamber of Deputies in January 2018 and it was the Mining and Energy Commission that was in charge of analyzing it, one of the last steps being the creation of a working table with the Ministry of Energy.
The result of this work materialized in the last session of Wednesday, August 1, where he realized the package of indications presented by the Executive, which came to give effectiveness to the norm and viability to its approval, as highlighted by the president of the parliamentary group, Deputy Marcela Hernando (PRSD).
"The fact that today we have been able, according to the Executive, to propose that not only will they be able to compensate for the lower expenditure or the injection of surpluses, but they will also be able to receive resources for that the people who generate this and that, in addition, we have been able to put clauses that will stimulate, we hope that we, the generation itself on the part of institutions that are non-profit, we always thought of the Hogar de Cristo and a series of other institutions like them, it seems to us that it is meritorious, "he remarked.
Deputy Pablo Vidal (RD) stressed that this project encourages the installation of clean energy and allows a greater diversification of the energy matrix, so he estimated that, clearly, it does good for Chile and is beneficial for the people.
"If you consume electricity equivalent to five thousand, ten thousand, 20 thousand, 50 thousand pesos in your house; if you have the availability of a roof to put, for example solar panels, that those solar panels can generate energy that you consume and, in the event that more energy is generated than you consume, this goes to the electrical system and, therefore, it can generate a discount on the ballot at the end of the month. And in the event that you generate more energy, even than the one you consumed and the one you have to pay, thus generating a surplus, that surplus is paid to the person, it is paid in money, "he explained.
The Minister of Energy, Susana Jiménez also valued the agreement and the approval of the initiative, which allows to advance in the goals of the Government and in achieving direct benefits for the citizens.
"The good news is that panels and generation alternatives have been lowering costs significantly; it is being a competitive option for households and establishments. Therefore, we believe that this will penetrate quite quickly and, having expanded the universe of establishments that can benefit from it, with greater reason we hope that this will achieve the commitment we have acquired with the citizens by launching our energy route with President Piñera to multiply by four the level of distributed generation that there are today in our country," he said.
It is worth mentioning that, despite the broad agreement reached, there are still some points of controversy surrounding this initiative, now sent for analysis to the Finance Committee.
In particular, the opposition was not satisfied with the setting of a limit of 300KW to benefit from the benefits of this law, so it does not rule out insisting on extending the range to 500KW, in order to include not only housing units or establishments, but also entire communities.
