Source: Diario Financiero
- Initiatives presented by the entity address issues such as chain of payments and supply tenders. The industry is watching cautiously.
The last meeting of the public-private table convened by the National Energy Commission (CNE) in response to the alert set off by Maria Elena Solar and then by Ibereólica Cabo Leones, took place this Thursday. After five sessions, in which 17 stakeholders from the electricity industry participated, 12 of whom presented their diagnosis and suggestions, it was the turn of the CNE, which presented a set of preliminary proposals.
The ideas proposed by the regulatory body, together with the Ministry of Energy, consider the modification of the General Law of Electric Services, the Regulation of Coordination and Operation, the Regulation of power transfer, as well as modifications to the Technical Standard Security and Quality of Service, and Technical Standard for Coordination and Operation. And, in addition, the review of instruments such as the Short-Term Node Prices Report and the bases of supply tenders for regulated customers.
Based on the diagnosis and 60 proposals from the members of the roundtable, the Energy portfolio and the CNE presented ideas mentioned by participants, classified into various subjects: payment chain in the short-term market, supply tenders, planning and pricing of the transmission, generation segment, storage and operation of the electrical system, side payments and systemic costs, and short-term market.
For example, with regard to the chain of payments in the short-term market, it is proposed to analyze the relevance of having a guarantee that covers a term greater than three months, criteria for executing guarantees, a new payment portal, among others. Regarding supply tenders, among other proposals, the modification of guarantees or fines for non-compliance with contracts is contemplated and to evaluate the incorporation of incentives for storage in the award mechanism of the bidding processes.
According to the schedule, observations and proposals will be received until December 9 and the week of December 26, the CNE will publish a report of the table with the proposals and/or measures presented, and other new ones that the actors of the table could contribute.
Reactions
The Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow, thanked them for the collaboration but -he said- “I call on them not to give up because the conversation has not ended”. While the executive secretary of the CNE, Marco Antonio Mancilla, emphasized: “We are taking charge of the problems of the electricity sector that have been dragging on for some time and that we are determined to solve (…) Today we present our conclusions and proposals preliminary studies, which we hope to continue deepening during December with the contribution of the industry,” he said.
In the industry there is optimism regarding the work carried out by the CNE, but it is viewed with caution, since they are preliminary proposals whose details are not yet fully known. In fact, the Gantt Chart of the preliminary proposals is proposed within 36 months, with the eventual start being in January 2023.
From the electricity companies, they indicated that “we value this participatory process, which gathers the opinion of different participants of the work table. It is a set of proposals that must continue to be worked on, at a level of detail, through the instances of observations defined by the authority”.
Rafael Loyola, executive director of Apemec, indicated that the CNE closed the table by making a diagnosis that goes far beyond the non-compliance problem of two variable renewable energy generators. “Through a systemic perspective, he raised the need to advance in providing the renewable energy matrix so that it had flexibility 24 hours a day and for this he gave a clear schedule on various fronts (…) We are very satisfied to have been able to participate and we value the conclusions reached by the authorities”.