On Thursday, August 20, Session No. 1 of the Energy Policy Advisory Committee took place as part of the 2050 Energy Policy Update Process. Dr. Edward Fuentealba, leader of the SERC Chile research line investigating materials science and solar resource evaluation and an academic at the University of Antofagasta, was appointed as a member of this body.

Professor Fuentealba believes that his participation in the Committee “represents the consolidation of solar energy as an important element of Chile’s energy matrix and, furthermore, it also consolidates academia’s participation in R&D development within the energy sector.”

The update process will incorporate the major technological changes that have impacted the sector in recent years, which were not foreseeable when the 2050 Energy Policy was drafted following a work process that concluded in December 2015. Among these are an 80% drop in solar generation costs over the last 10 years; distributed generation has grown fourfold in the last two years; and tender prices have fallen by 75% over the last five years.

Edward Fuentealba notes that this new phase will incorporate definitions that were only outlined in the first stage, such as the decarbonization of the matrix, as well as other processes that did not exist then, such as the impact of electromobility or the significant potential for the development of Green Hydrogen.

This update process of the National Energy Policy has been defined by the authorities as a process that will organize and provide a structure for all energy initiatives, which will also feature broad cross-cutting agreements by bringing together the visions and interests of different types of stakeholders. On this occasion, society as a whole is involved through various participatory instances.