Senate Mining and Energy Committee approves the energy transition bill in principle

PRESS RELEASE from the Ministry of Energy of Chile
November 29, 2023

(Machine translation of the original release, issued in Spanish)

The Senate Mining and Energy Committee approved in general and without votes against, the energy transition bill that includes a set of measures that promote urgent actions to encourage investments required for the decarbonization process of our country.

The proposal was supported transversally with 4 votes in favor of senators Luz Ebensperger (UDI), Juan Luis Castro (PS), Jaime Quintana (PPD) and José Miguel Durana (UDI) and the abstention of senator Rafael Prohens (RN) .

The Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow, stated that the general approval of the project “is very good news for the regions of our country. A key initiative for the energy sector is advancing that takes care of, among other things, delays in transmission works that have affected the productivity of regions such as Ñuble. In addition, it is an important incentive to encourage the entry of storage projects, a key technology for the transition.”

The authority explained that indications will be entered into the project “that will take into consideration several of the suggestions from senators, academia, industry and experts, discussed in the working group that we formed a few weeks ago.”

Among the main axes of the proposal, it seeks to generate the conditions for an efficient development of electrical transmission works, mainly in regions such as Ñuble and Los Lagos that face production problems due to the tightness in terms of transmission.

Likewise, the initiative seeks to reallocate tariff revenues, improving the allocation of risks associated with extraordinary congestion in the electrical system.

The bill that faces its first constitutional process will now be analyzed in particular in the same parliamentary body, and then be put to a vote in the Senate Chamber.