Power integration crucial for Latin America

Spanish Market: Electricity
29/10/24

Latin America expects a significant increase in regional electricity integration in 2025, with countries from the Andean region starting the approval process to integrate their grids.

The four countries that form the Andean Community (CAN) — Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru — began working on integration seven years ago, finalizing agreements last May. The member countries have 24 months to incorporate commercial and regulatory rules to integrate grids into national legislation.

CAN secretary general Gonzalo Gutierrez said he was confident that the integrated system would be ready quickly. The next big piece — and one Gutierrez said is central to the region — is getting Chile to join the integrated system.

"The incorporation of Chile into the Andean integrated system is crucial," Gutierrez said at the annual meeting of the Latin American Energy Organization (Olade) in Asuncion, Paraguay.

The CAN integration is the third in the region after Central America, which includes six countries, and the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur) that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Bolivia joined earlier this year but is not fully integrated into Mercosur systems.

Chile, if it were to join the Andean system, could serve as a link to Mercosur in the south. The Andean system, once operating, could connect to the Central America system through a Colombia-Panama link.

Authorities say that if an integrated system were in place already, it would have helped Ecuador avoid electricity rationing this year.

Andres Rebolledo, Olade executive secretary, said the region needs to focus on integration, infrastructure and diversification of grids for the energy transition and climate change.

"Ecuador is facing supply problems, but this year there have been six countries with some level of rationing. The interconnection and diversification of grids are the first solution," he said.

To the south, Uruguay's deputy industry minister Walter Verri said regional energy integration helped his country avoid rationing during the 2022-2023 drought.

"We had a drought that required us to import electricity [from Brazil]. Integration was essential," he said.

Verri said that while the Mercosur countries were integrated, lack of a regional vision hurts Latin America. "Latin America has excess power and we are under-utilizing our resources. We need to install infrastructure, but it is costly," he said.

Verri and Paraguay's deputy mining and energy minister, Mauricio Bejarano, also focused on Chile, saying that Mercosur needs to build power infrastructure that links it with Chile.

By Lucien Chauvin

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22/11/24

Cop: Drafts point to trade-off on finance, fossil fuels

Baku, 22 November (Argus) — The new draft on the climate finance goal from the UN Cop 29 climate summit presidency has developed nations contributing $250bn/yr by 2035, while language on fossil fuels has been dropped, indicating work towards a compromise on these two central issues. There is no mention of fossil fuels in either the new draft text on the global stocktake — which follows up the outcome of Cop 28 last year, including "transitioning away" from fossil fuels — or in the new draft for the climate finance goal. Developed countries wanted a reference to moving away from fossil fuels included, indicating that not having one would be a red line. The new draft text on the climate finance goal would mark a substantial compromise for developing countries, with non-profit WRI noting that this is "the bridging text". Parties are negotiating the next iteration of the $100bn/yr that developed countries agreed to deliver to developing nations over 2020-25 — known as the new collective quantified goal (NCQG). The new draft sets out a figure of $250bn/yr by 2035, "from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources". It also notes that developed countries will "take the lead". It sets out that the finance could come from multilateral development banks (MDBs) too. "It has been a significant lift over the past decade to meet the prior, smaller goal... $250bn will require even more ambition and extraordinary reach," a US official said. "This goal will need to be supported by ambitious bilateral action, MDB contributions and efforts to better mobilise private finance, among other critical factors," the official added. India had indicated earlier this week that the country was seeking around $600bn/yr for a public finance layer from developed countries. Developing countries had been asking for $1.3 trillion/yr in climate finance from developed countries, a sum which the new text instead calls for "all actors" to work toward. The draft text acknowledges the need to "enable the scaling up of financing… from all public and private sources" to that figure. On the contributor base — which developed countries have long pushed to expand — the text indicates that climate finance contributions from developing countries could supplement the finance goal. It is unclear how this language will land with developing nations. China yesterday reiterated that "the voluntary support" of the global south is not part of the goal. The global stocktake draft largely focuses on the initiatives set out by the Cop 29 presidency, on enhancing power grids and energy storage, though it does stress the "urgent need for accelerated implementation of domestic mitigation measures". It dropped a previous option, opposed by Saudi Arabia, that mentioned actions aimed at "transitioning away from fossil fuels". Mitigation, or cutting emissions, and climate finance have been the overriding issues at Cop 29. Developing countries have long said they cannot decarbonise or implement an energy transition without adequate finance. Developed countries are calling for substantially stronger global action on emissions reduction. By Georgia Gratton and Prethika Nair Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Japan’s Taketoyo to resume biomass co-firing in 2027

22/11/24

Japan’s Taketoyo to resume biomass co-firing in 2027

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Cop: Talks in Baku torn between mitigation and finance

21/11/24

Cop: Talks in Baku torn between mitigation and finance

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Cop: EU, four countries commit to 1.5°C climate plans

21/11/24

Cop: EU, four countries commit to 1.5°C climate plans

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Cop: Australia backs no new coal power call: Correction

20/11/24

Cop: Australia backs no new coal power call: Correction

Corrects missing word in headline London, 20 November (Argus) — Major coal producers Australia and Colombia, along with the EU and 23 other countries including the UK, have pledged not to allow any new unabated coal-fired power generation in their energy systems at the UN Cop 29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. This comes a day after Colombia, New Zealand and the UK joined a Netherlands-led international coalition focused on phasing out incentives and subsidies for fossil fuels. Most of the coal pact signatories are members of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, under which some countries have committed to phasing out existing unabated coal power generation. Australia is not listed as a member of the alliance, but the cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra are. Unsurprisingly, the list of signatories did not include China or India, the two world's largest coal importers. It also does not include the US, although the country is part of the Powering Past Coal Alliance. "There is no space for new unabated coal in a 1.5°C or even 2°C aligned pathway, yet coal capacity rose by 2pc last year," the pact signatories said today. The pledge focuses on coal-fired generation and does not mention the phasing out of exports or imports. Australia, is the world's second-largest seaborne coal exporter. The country is looking to host Cop 31 in 2026 by outbidding Turkey for the spot. But no realistic policy changes in coal exports is expected from Australia, which will have a federal parliamentary election by May 2025 and winning votes from key coal mining regions in New South Wales and Queensland has proven to be crucial in recent elections. Turkey is on track to overtake Germany as Europe's largest coal-fired generator this year and was not among the signatories of today's coal pledge. Amid calls for a faster phase-down of unabated coal-fired power generation, global coal trade is set to reach a record high of more than 1.5bn t this year , surpassing last year's 1.38bn t, according to IEA data. Coal consumption will probably remain resilient, supported by higher electricity demand growth in China and India. China has not set a new climate plan since 2021, but it is expected to ramp up its ambitions in a new plan due by February 2025. India and Indonesia are strongly encouraging higher coal production to ensure energy security. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in September lowered its forecast for US coal-fired generation in this year but raised its expectation for 2025 . By Shreyashi Sanyal Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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