Renewable Energy Technologies And The Challenge Of Energy Integration In Latin America: The Clean Development Mechanism

Renewable energy technologies and the challenge of energy integration in Latin America: the Clean Development Mechanism
Eva Llera1 , Sabina Scarpellini, Amaya Martínez, Alfonso Aranda
1 CIRCE -Centre of Research for Energy Resources and Consumption- University of Zaragoza (Spain), ellera@unizar.es

ABSTRACT: Latin America is known to have a variety of energy resources in quantities that couldguarantee energy supply in the region in the long term. In spite of this, security of supply is still a problem. Fossil resources could be sufficient to induce economic growth in the first instance but the problem of the environmental impacts of this progress exists and it is necessary to find a balance between energy consumption and generation and sustainable development. In Latin Americaefficiency of electricity generation and new renewable energy technologies can help to reduce the negative effects of electricity consumption associated with economic growth. Moreover, renewable hybrid systems and micro-grids can be the solution for the electrification of isolated areas. The first objective of this paper is to asses the situation of renewable energy in Latin America pointing out some ofthe underlying factors for the poor penetration of renewables. Finally, the paper considers the opportunities that the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol offers to the region. Once the interest of the projects from the point of view of sustainability has been properly established, their success will depend on a stable regulatory framework in the region. Keywords: renewable energy,sustainable developing, Latin America, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

NOMENCLATURE CDM: Clean Development Mechanisms CER Certified Emission Reduction DNA: Designated National Authorities GDP: Gross Domestic Product GHGs: Greenhouse gases HDI: Hydroenergy Dependency over total renewable supply Index RI: Renewability Index RTD: Research and Technological Development TPES: Total Primary EnergyUNFCC: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 1. INTRODUCTION The Latin American energy sector is highly dependent on fossil fuels. Although fossil resources could be enough to support the expected growing of these developing countries, problems of sustainability can appear. Besides an improvement in energy efficiency, renewable energy sources have an important role to play inclimate change mitigation strategies in the region. Even considering that renewable potential is not equally distributed among countries, smallscale projects, renewable hybrid systems

and micro-grids can offer a technical solution. Latin America enjoys abundant renewable energy resources that have not been properly used to date. The main reasons are well documented and generally fall into fivecategories: technical, regulatory, economic, financial and institutional [1] Most of the initiatives to promote efficient energy use and renewable energy in Latin America have been supported by international cooperation programmes. At present, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol offers a new pathway to encourage technology transfer in the region. CDM allows industrialisedcountries with a greenhouse gas reduction commitment to invest in emission reducing projects in developing countries, in return for certified emission reductions (CERs). CDM project activities are going to contribute to promote sustainable energy in Latin America, but the final impact of these projects would depend on the flows of financial resources and technologies to be transferred to the region.The purpose of this paper is to analyse the renewable energy and energy integration technology for the potential CDM in Latin America. 2. THE ENERGY SCENARIO IN THE REGION 2.1 Primary energy supply The total energy supply composition of Latin America and the Caribbean (see Fig. 1) shows that the region is basically dependent on fossil fuels and hydroelectricity. In fact, Latin America’s oil...