An important conversation about the energy of the future was held within the framework of the Third Cycle of "Conversaciones que Conectan 2018", a dialogue forum organized by Transelec together with Congreso del Futuro and Diario Pulso. Participants included the Minister of Energy, Susana Jiménez; Gianni Kovacevic, a renowned expert in energy, natural resources, and emerging markets, and a graduate of the British Columbia Institute of Technology; Rodrigo Palma, director of SERC Chile; and Andrés Kuhlmann, general manager of Transelec.
How will the energy of the future impact our lives? How is the current regulation adapting to the challenges of the energy of the future? What are the new entrepreneurial opportunities that the energy of the future will demand? These were some of the questions raised by the experts on this discussion panel.
Rodrigo Palma commented that "Chile has a great opportunity regarding the development of renewable energies, especially solar, so we must take advantage of this window, as our country can become a relevant solar player in the world and thus create a new local industry." He added that "to this end, we have trained people in the industrial sphere and robust institutions in the public sector; in other words, we have everything to carry out the Chilean solar revolution."
Minister of Energy Susana Jiménez stated that "we must constantly look at the changes ahead, the trends, and how we align our public policy, our regulations, and our standards from the public sector—not only to accelerate the introduction of those changes but also to have sufficient speed so that those trends that are not visible today, but will be tomorrow, can be harnessed for the benefit of people's quality of life."
Gianni Kovacevic commented that today we are moving from fossil fuels toward electrification. "Once you move away from traditional resources, what needs to be done is to begin a new process of electrification. This change will be led by renewable energies. In Chile, you have plenty of sun in the north. You have lithium and copper that make electricity possible. You have wind potential in the south. Electricity is the future," he stated.
Andrés Kuhlmann stated that "this change will be experienced at an accelerated pace in Chile, transitioning toward an increasingly electric country, because electricity costs have been consistently decreasing in energy tenders over recent years. This reduction is being rapidly passed on to consumers. But for all this to happen, we must have a flexible regulatory framework that allows us to transition from the current electric power industry to the energy industry of the future."