2024-07-17 04:00:00
In the 1960s, Hidronor was established to “create and develop water resources in the Comahue area.” It is worth highlighting that a master plan was developed, centered on the design, construction and development of a system of interlocking dams to generate electrical energy and regulate the flow of the basin’s water system.
Those of us who were in Neuquén in 1966 and 1967 remember the benefits noted by officials regarding these works, the first of which was El Chocón and Cerros Colorados.
Not only did these projects bring economic growth, but the irrigated area was also greatly expanded (it is said that it will reach one million hectares).
The work began in 1967 and energy dispatch via LAT (500kV), also built by Hidronor, began in 1973.
The company aims to develop a master plan for the Limay River that includes multiple dams. Hidronor (with a team of excellent and well-trained professionals) designed a chain-type power generation system that it built and operated, with cascade dams optimizing the flow of water delivered and the reservoir level of the lake. This business of a single company makes it possible to schedule technical maintenance outages and, based on weather and climate forecasts, anticipate the most convenient opportunities for these outages.
The company was disbanded and divided into business units, its development rights were awarded to different private operators, which broke the design units, and the management of these system variables was dwarfed by the commercial competitiveness of seeking to maximize profits.
The national energy authority has oversight, but with reduced decision-making capacity, fines for violating its directives are cheaper for companies than the profits gained through contempt of court. As a result, we spent a lot of money and exaggerated the power generation limitations of dams with low water levels downstream in the system and unrestored reservoir levels.
We also did not irrigate the surface, so we were unable to achieve our stated goals. The fish scales were also not built as early environmental protection standards suggested (in both cases the rationale was if not financial constraints. There was never any consideration of how costly inaction would be in the medium to long term) Do).
We believe that the action of state executive powers to create different companies to develop these dams shows that we have chosen the wrong path when it is convenient to return to the design of a single operating company for complex systems like this.
System standards for a single company managing hydrogen parks in the basin must be restored.
Hidronor fell into mismanagement which resulted in increased operating costs and this mistake should not be made once more. According to the same concepts of efficiency and energy sovereignty, supporting a company with a state majority like YPF, it is necessary to create a tripartite company with a board of directors composed of the state and two provinces (in the case of Cerros Colorados, a tripartite company consisting of the state and the provinces ) Nqn) accept private integration and even professional management with international competitiveness. The system is profitable and generates enough profits to cover its operating costs, dividend distributions, etc.
A new value for energy royalties paid to the provinces must be determined and charges must be levied on supplied water, turbine and non-turbine, as has been legislated by the provinces. Private and individual extraction does not allow optimal use of the water supply, which means that flow is more expensive. The uniqueness of a single company can reduce overhead, optimize functional and in-depth maintenance staff, reduce driving and travel costs for managers, and more.
This is not regarding creating another parasitic structure, but rather managing it according to business standards and those managers will be held civilly and financially responsible.
At that time the Comachu tariff was lifted and its return had to be demanded. This rate is proposed to promote local development within the basin’s generation goals.
Areas outside Comahue have received a plethora of benefits that have contributed to the development and well-being of the rest of Argentina, and we demand that they must be compensated from now on.
The Chihudos theme deserves a more detailed analysis, and now is not the time to expand on it. Let us remember that the state always “kicks” the job, even suggesting that it is an issue that the province must address. There are some ideas for developing this topic, which is very important because it protects the Colorado Mountains from floods exceeding 10/12,000 cubic meters/second (the flow rate of a catastrophic flood is estimated to be 1,000 cubic meters/second). Due to the capacity of Lake Rini, the water flow of 6/7000 cubic meters per second has plunged the valley into a state of emergency.
A catastrophic flood will not only affect the Alto Valley, but also affect large areas of mining areas, causing pollution, damage to facilities, and serious pollution will flow into the Alto Valley freshwater reservoir.
In many places, dozens of places, it is possible to install low-power generating plants and develop horticultural production, farm and high-altitude forest irrigation areas through water storage, and through electrification to pump water, heat and so on. This will improve the future of logging. Rather than large scale projects, I was thinking of small civil engineering weirs and low power turbines.
Continue to build large and medium-sized wind power and photovoltaic power generation parks, realize the transformation of complementary energy sources from hydropower, and minimize the impact on global warming. Dams can act as “batteries”, stabilizing electricity when radiation or wind are insufficient.
In addition to scale parks, isolated and autonomous points powered by these systems can be developed and installed, thus completely breaking down the communication isolation and electricity supply of settled populations far from centers of health care and other services, thus facilitating water access by pumping water when necessary and There is energy for developing orchards, raising animals, heating in winter, etc.
Another time we will discuss the topic of green hydrogen, LNG, oil….
Néstor Berdichevsky is an engineer. He lives in Neuquen.
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