2023-08-04 18:54:21
The Undersecretary of National Energy Planning, Cecilia Garibotti detailed the energy agenda that they are carrying out in view of the energy transition objectives in the country. He expressed that there are numerous tensions for its development, among themthe importance of fossil fuels for the economy of the country and infrastructure challenges.
The energy agenda is printed within international commitments. Garibotti explained that we have a national context “marked by being a federal country where energy policy decisions are not centralized, but rather they take a lot of actors. The country has a lot of potential in resources, but at the same time it has a lot of infrastructure challenges«.
The energy transition agenda must be located in a specific context and be updated as required, he stressed. Worldwide, 78% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions arise from the energy sector. In Argentina, that percentage decreases to 51% according to data compiled by the official.
Beyond responsibility for the level of emissions, It is a “strategic sector in our country and in all other. It is one of the strong tensions when we talk regarding the energy transition, because we are aiming to change the forms of production, distribution and consumption of energy, creating cleaner and more sustainable systems », he explained.
If decarbonization implies “a much more expensive system, can generate tensions with economic growth. At the same time, we have projections on growth in energy demand correlated with increasing population growth. We need cleaner systems.” Added to this tension is the objective of «make sure the transition is just and sustainable«.
The just transition consists of developing a system that sustains the supply to the most vulnerable groups. To do this, different variables must be taken into account, such as the costs that changing the energy matrix can mean quickly and how this can affect the different sectors, as he explained.
“There is quite a global consensus on the just transition. It is understood that decarbonization is important for the care of future generationsbut we also have to take care of the present generations, “he explained.
In the global energy context, fossil fuels still represent 80% of the total supply of primary energy. In the case of Argentina, in the energy matrix “we see a greater incidence of natural gas, the so-called transition fuel. We have a much cleaner matrix compared to the rest of the world“, stressed the reference.
This is because the country does not have the same level of industrialization as the countries with the highest emissions. «As the Minister of Economy (Sergio Massa) always says, we we are global environmental creditors, we are not environmental debtors in the sense that our level of population, economy are relatively lower and we have more economic needs”.
«In the world energy context, fossil fuels continue to represent 80% of the total supply of primary energy»
Undersecretary of National Energy Planning, Cecilia Garibotti.
The 2023 agenda aim to the development of the national plan for Energy Transition to 2050; the Hydrogen bill, the LNG bill and the Energy Efficiency bill. «A point that is also being worked on is inserted within the best practices, in search of greater equity. It is a roadmap for the incorporation of women into the energy sector”, she expressed.
The referrer explained that it is not possible to have an equal strategy for all sectors, such as generation and transport, due to the different possibilities of decarbonization. “When we think of the industrial sector, in addition to distributed generation we think of energy efficiency policies,” he exemplified. This can help generate “best scenarios”he commented.
Energy Transition: The resources that exist in the country
The resources that exist in the country for the energy transition are various. Among them, highlighted natural gasgiven that “has a lower emissions factor per unit of energy. Within the GHG, it has more methane, but in the long term one of the biggest problems we have is Carbon Dioxide (CO2) », he marked.
Currently there are five productive basins throughout the country. Besides, “there is strong exploratory potential. We are developing offshore projects. We are breaking records in the production of unconventional gas, which is serving to make up for the decline,” he explained. In this line, stressed the importance of energy security in the face of external factorssuch as the decline in production in Bolivia, from where gas is imported.
Regarding wind resources, highlighted the load factor of the Patagonian region, which is between 55% and 65%, while the world average is 35%. «We have a lot of potential in wind resources but it is intermittent. We have an additional problem that is the electrical infrastructure, which since many lines have not been developed in a long time it puts a cap on how much we can generate«.
Regarding photovoltaic resources, he stressed that «we have great potential in the north of the country with also very high load factors compared to the world average. We have had increases in solar generation and consistently, but once more we found the limit of the electrical infrastructure”, a situation in which they are working with a plan of electrical works for the whole countryhe commented.
One of the sources of generation most important in South America is hydroelectric. “We have been working with specific policies at a general level such as for the expiration of the Comahue dam concessions. In 2022 it contributed 21.7% of the total generation of the system“, he highlighted.
As for nuclear generation, “work is underway on projects for new power plants and also in the modular reactors of the modular vector type are low power Carem rectors. It is one of the low or zero emission solutions“, he indicated.
To achieve the objectives of the agenda, they bet on the following guidelines: energy efficiency; clean energy in GHG emissions; gasification; development of national technological capacities; resilience of the energy system; federalization of energy development; development of low emission hydrogen; sustainable mobility and fair and inclusive transition.
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