Gas Lobby Hinders RE Transition In Chile

The Gas lobby is throwing a spanner in the transition to renewable energy in Chile which likes to present itself as a worldwide leader on climate change. Solar and wind projects have been developed across North Chile. But, across most of South Chile people use wood for combustion.

A report recently published liberally quoted Chile’s former environment minister Marcelo Mena as saying, “natural gas is basically methane. They’re actually hindering the power that we can deliver from renewable energy. It’s been more of an opposition towards 100 percent renewable target. At the same time, in the south of Chile, there is a big lack of natural gas for heating and people are heating themselves with wood and choking on it,”.

Nearly 22 % of Chile’s electricity comes from solar and wind energy production centres against 13% in US and the world average of 10%. In 2008, Chile was also one of the first countries to declare a target for renewable energy. However, imported natural gas, a fossil fuel like coal and oil, has continued because of a favourable supply deal won from the government. It nullifies the vigorous effort to transition to renewable energy.

What separates Chile is its continuous reception of the most consistent sunshine in the world, especially in the northern Atacama Desert. So, investment in solar and wind projects was a natural progression. Developers built tens of solar and wind plants. They also built systems that get energy from the Earth’s heat, called geothermal plants. These energy centres were placed throughout the country, which stretches 4,300 kilometers from north to south.

Ironically, the government also invested in fossil fuel plants. The natural gas importers and owners of gas plants successfully argued that the power grid must take their electricity produced from fossil fuel plants. The importers must pay for gas under international contracts whether they need it or not. That means electricity produced from gas is favored in the power market which also supports renewables.