ACERA celebrated its 21st anniversary with the return of the Annual Dinner and a strong call for joint action from all industry players

This is a machine translation of the original release issued in Spanish

PRESS RELEASE from Acera
October 9, 2024

Santiago, October 8, 2024. The Annual Meeting of Renewable Energies and Storage: “The Transformation is for Everyone” was a resounding success. This event, which has established itself as the most important event in the energy industry in Chile, was held with five highlights, where ministerial authorities and ACERA spokespersons shared key messages. The event recovered its traditional format with a dinner held at Metropolitan Santiago.

The Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow , participated in this important event and gave a few words at the beginning of this meeting, highlighting the value of people in this transformation that is sought to be achieved in the sector. “Our policies are not only about emissions, they cannot be only about their ability to contribute to the energy transition thought only from a scientific perspective, we must be able to see all the richness of some of the things we do. This is a sector where electrons and molecules are often talked about, but in reality it is about people of flesh and blood. We must ask ourselves: how do we make our energy transition more about workers, generating job opportunities for people who study in our country?”

The opening remarks of the meeting also included the participation of the Minister of the Environment, Maisa Rojas , who emphasized that “we have an environmental policy to address climate change and the energy transition, we have been able to maintain a clear line towards where we want to move forward to address climate change and where the energy transition plays a fundamental role. Thanks to that we have a law that gives us the north, tells us where we want to go and we want to be carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest and we want to be resilient to the adverse effects of climate change as well. And that gives enormous certainty in that north where we want to reach.”

On behalf of ACERA, the President of the association, Sergio del Campo , highlighted the crucial role of the association in the country's energy transition, underlining the commitment of its more than 150 partners in building a 100% renewable energy matrix for Chile. However, he warned that "the electricity sector is currently going through one of the most important crises in its history, which is a paradox, considering the good news of a high speed of penetration of renewable energies and a considerable increase in competition in our electricity matrix." In this sense, he referred to the fact that there is a "lack of investment in energy transmission in our country, which generates internodal costs or differences between injection and withdrawal prices that make contracts mainly linked to regulated clients unviable. In parallel, there is a growing congestion (curtailment) that prevents the evacuation of energy from projects with renewable technology. This situation implies a greater exposure of the contracted generators in the fulfillment of their obligations with their clients."

In the context of the current discussion on rate increases and subsidies, he was firm in stating that “as ACERA, we share the concern to find mechanisms to help the most vulnerable families in the country to cope with the rise in electricity rates caused by the freezing of rates implemented in PEC Laws 1 and 2. However, solutions must be sought that do not destroy the confidence of investors and international banks in Chile's commitment to renewable energy. Solutions that do not go along these lines, as is happening with the Subsidy Bill, are policies that have demonstrated their counterproductive effect on numerous occasions and in various countries in the recent past, which could cause very deep damage, which sooner or later reaches the final customer, through higher energy prices for the country.”

One of the most celebrated moments of the evening was the intervention of ACERA's Executive Director, Ana Lía Rojas , who, through a dialogue with a representation of herself in 2050, outlined an optimistic analysis of the energy future and the achievement of carbon neutrality in the next 25 years, based on electrification based on renewable energies and on the savings in import spending that fossil fuels represent for Chile today.

Rojas pointed out that through electrification, Chile has the opportunity to save between 15 and 20 billion dollars a year, and that these savings represent the true opportunity for decarbonization, in addition to reducing emissions. Along these lines, he not only referred to the decarbonization of the electricity sector and the challenge of decarbonizing the night through storage and transmission, but also the decarbonization of the rest of Chile's energy matrix.

The speech ended with a hopeful message, referring to the fact that successful transformations are based not only on technical reforms, but also on wills guided by incentives and that this is what must prevail in the next 25 years to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The event also included a space for inspiration, tribute and gratitude. ACERA gave a posthumous recognition to Hugh Rudnick Van de Wyngard, engineer, professor and leader of the Chilean electrical sector. His legacy was honoured with an emotional account of the engineer's life, with images and narration by his daughter, Alejandra Rudnick. ACERA gave a recognition, which was received by his children Alejandra, Andrea, Elizabeth and Iván Rudnick.
The day concluded with a long-awaited space for networking and camaraderie, where attendees shared their visions and expectations about the future of renewable energy and storage in Chile.

ACERA would like to thank its sponsoring partners and those who made this event possible: Huawei , Atlas , SMA , Grenergy , Sonnedix , Uka , EDF Renewables , Engie , DNV , Andes Solar , Black & Veatch , Metlen , ISA Interchile, Zelestra , Anabática , WPD and Colbún , highlighting that thanks to the support of the latter, for the first time, the association has held a 100% carbon neutral meeting. Thanks also to Agencia Pólux who were the media partners of this event.

ACERA's Annual Meeting on Renewable Energy and Storage not only celebrated the achievements of the past 21 years, but also laid the groundwork for the future. The association reaffirmed its commitment to continue working tirelessly alongside its partners and the entire renewable ecosystem to ensure that electrification and decarbonization are an accessible, beneficial and fair reality for all Chileans.