Noboa has slashed taxes on imports of diesel-powered generators and batteries, created new incentives for the private sector to invest in energy projects, and has even drafted in a Turkish barge to generate emergency power. But he faces criticism for not acting sooner to preserve dam water levels to mitigate the crisis.
Arturo Alarcón, a senior energy specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, says Latin America needs to deal with the climate threat to its hydro dams by broadening its energy mix, while keeping carbon emissions as low as possible.
This would mean more solar and wind power generation and balancing the management of the power grid by cutting back on electricity generation from large dams during sunny or windy days, to conserve the water for use in cloudier or stiller periods.
Building more interconnectors between national grids could also help ensure greater resilience, although this is not a guaranteed solution.
Colombia recently refused to sell Ecuador power through their shared connection because it wanted to conserve power in its own dams, which were running short.
Although climate change is making it harder to guarantee the reliable production of green electricity, hydropower will remain a big part of the solution to Latin America’s power needs, Alarcón says.
“We have 200 gigawatts of hydroelectric power in the system,” he explains. “We can’t just substitute that with other sources. You have to keep them working . . . and diversify your energy mix.”
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=6731975c903b46a8b4fc5eb4b6031d1a&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcontent%2F059a0657-d508-4c34-a517-57e5cca0ee4c&c=1195833857915457504&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-11-10 16:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
