The new energy policy of Chile targets 70 percent of power to come from renewable sources by 2050.
The new national plan Energy 2050 is aimed at reducing energy blackouts. It will allow Chileans access to electricity and ensure that 70 percent of Chile’s energy supply comes from renewable sources by 2050.
It would build a shared vision for the future development of our energy sector with the social, political and technical support needed to transform it into the energy policy that Chile needs, said Maximo Pacheco, the country’s energy minister on Wednesday.
Energy 2050 set targets that power cuts should not surpass four hours a year by 2035 and one hour a year by 2050, ensuring the universal and equal access to modern and reliable energy services.
It also expected to make Chile among the three countries with the cheapest energy bills when the policy expires.
Bloomberg earlier reported that Chileans’ electricity bills have increased 30 percent in five years. Chile imports more than 90 percent of its oil and gas.
Chile received 17 offers to generate power from new projects.
EDF, GDF Suez, Acciona and Abengoa SA won contracts in December to supply Chile in the coming decade, providing more competition for Endesa, Colbun and AES Gener, which together account for about two-thirds of power generation.
Chile had a portfolio of 45 power projects as of November 2014, of which 39 percent were non-conventional clean energy projects, ministerial data show. That’s up from a government estimate that tracked 28 power projects in March last year.
Chile government has set a goal of lifting non-conventional renewables’ share of the country’s energy matrix to 70 percent by 2050, according to a report in efe.
The government is proposing that non-conventional renewable sources account for at least 70 percent of Chile’s energy matrix in 2050, a plan in which solar and wind energy will be the focus, complimented by new small hydroelectric projects as well as biomass, geothermal energy and marine energy.
Non-conventional renewables account for 11.7 percent of the energy fed into Chile’s grid system, according to the National Center for Renewable Energy Innovation and Development, or Cifes, meaning that Tuesday’s target would entail a 58.3-percentage-point increase in 34 years.
Baburajan K