Lessons learned from the incorporation of renewable sources of energy

The "Renewable Energy Sources and Lessons Learned" workshop held in Santiago de Chile, organized by the World Energy Council (WEC) with the support of Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), became a platform to discuss the prospects for renewable energy in the region and ended with the opening of a new debate on the regulatory and structural challenges faced by countries that have included renewable sources of energy in their power grid.

Andrés Romero, Executive Secretary of the National Energy Commission (CNE) in Chile, stressed the importance of regional integration to achieve the level of complementarity that renewable energy sources require and pointed to CAF as one of the country's main allies in the advancement of energy integration.

Meanwhile, Ernesto Rimari, energy expert at CAF, presented the Regional Hydro-energy Atlas, created as part of the institution's sustainable hydro-energy program, and emphasized the major potential still to be exploited in the region, which could materialize in both national and bi-national regional integration projects to improve the efficiency of resources shared by territories and reduce spending on implementing and managing electricity generation projects.

He also said that the portfolio of hydroelectric projects in the region will complement the supply of renewable sources of energy and electricity integration in Chile, supplying the region electricity reliably and safely.

The panel discussion closed with a presentation by Tristan Wallbank, Manager of Siemens' Wind Power & Renewables Division, who said that energy integration is very positive in many aspects, because it would help reduce bottlenecks in the electricity sector and also meant that resources available in Latin America could be shared more efficiently.