Renewable energies in Peru’s stratagic planning

By James Dauris, British Ambassador to Peru

On August 10th, I attended a presentation by Pedro Gamio and Henry García – two Peruvian specialists in the energy sector – on their latest work on renewable energies within the Peruvian context. It focused on highlighting the importance of renewable energies  when  the world’s energy needs are expected to increase by 50% by 2030.

I couldn’t agree more with this goal.

As the authors mention in their conclusions, it’s highly important to develop these kinds of markets for various reasons: they help to diversify the energy strategy; increase security for the energy supply;  create local jobs and promote the carbon market, to name just a few benefits..

The goal is to maintain a prosperous and sustainable economy, diversifying energy strategy with a wide range of clean energy technologies which are both efficient and low on carbon emissions. There are many advantages to this approach. Among them, that it contributes to economic growth and employment; mitigates climate change, and also reduces the dependency on international fossil fuel markets.

Furthermore, the recent Climascopio 2012 (Climascope 2012), developed by the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Multilateral Investment Fund (FOMIN) in partnership with Bloomberg New Energy Finance contains some encouraging news for Peru. It lists this country as among the five most attractive countries for investment on clean or renewable energy. This is because Peru displays some interesting characteristics: high electricity costs; steady increase of energy demand; and an overall mix of geography and climatic conditions which are suitable for generating non-conventional energies.

Climate change is  a very important issue for the British Government. This phenomenon threatens the prosperity, food safety, and the ecosystems the world’s economies rely on. For that reason, the United Kingdom was the first country to pass a Climate Change Law in 2008, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Other countries have followed this example.

We took this decision to show our willingness and commitment to an issue which is very important to us. Without decisive action we won’t be able to mitigate the disastrous effects of accelerated climate change. Four years later, thanks to this policy, the United Kingdom has boosted job creation, there are more than a thousand new companies in the renewable energies industry, and several billions have been invested.

We are significantly reducing our carbon emissions; this reduces the level of air polluting agents such as nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide.

On the other hand, research is a key factor in developing new technologies and the technological capabilities of renewable energies. In 2007 we established the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a public-private initiative. ETI receives direct support from the British Government and from bigger, more innovative private companies.

Coordination between public and private sectors here in Peru will be equally important. It would be very positive for the report by Pedro Gamio and Henry García to stimulate more active collaboration between both sectors and thus make progress in these areas over the medium and long term. This would also increase participation of renewable energies in the strategy.

Based on the UK’s experience, I strongly support both authors’ recommendations. Peru would benefit from a more extensive debate on the possibility of creating an energy strategy which includes a greater focus on renewable energies.