The inclusion of ECLAC as a technical support body for the OLADE Regional Energy Planning Council constitutes recognition of the prestige and technical capabilities of ECLAC in regional energy planning. This new instance will allow the region to strengthen its institutional capacities in energy planning processes.
OLADE annually convenes Energy Week, one of the most prominent meetings of the energy sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, where dialogue and the exchange of knowledge between public and private actors in the region is encouraged. This event offers a platform for experts, leaders and authorities to share experiences, promoting the development and transformation of the energy sector.
ECLAC was invited to participate in several activities. In the Master Session on the creation of the Regional Planning Council, Martín Abeles, Director of the Natural Resources Division of ECLAC, pointed out that the energy transition opens a window of opportunity and can be a catalyst for the productive transformation of the region, if energy planning is more systematically articulated with productive development policies. In his speech, the ECLAC official highlighted the importance for this agenda of strengthening the technical, operational, political and prospective institutional capacities of the states of the region, and made ECLAC’s experience in the coordination of the Regional Forum of Energy Planners of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the panel on “Financing in the Energy Sector” Marina Gil, an economist from the same Division of ECLAC, presented some of the results of the energy prospective exercises carried out by ECLAC (published as part of the document of the fortieth session of ECLAC: “Latin America and the Caribbean facing development traps: Essential transformations and how to manage them | Fortieth session of ECLAC“), highlighting how energy integration produces significant efficiencies in the operation of the system, reduces investment and operation costs, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, but at the same time warned about the insufficiency of investment in renewable energy in the region.
Finally, in the paper on “Critical Minerals for Energy Transitions” Rafael Poveda, a consultant from the same Division, reflected on policies aimed at promoting new productive links in the value chain of minerals critical for the energy transition (such as lithium or copper) and highlighted the importance of regional dialogue spaces. In this sense, he highlighted the role of the permanent Forum for technical dialogue on innovation, technological development and value addition to lithium in the countries of the Triangle and Mexico coordinated by ECLAC, a platform that seeks the exchange of experiences between producing countries.
Within the framework of Energy Week, ECLAC authorities held bilateral meetings with the Minister of Energy and Mines of the Dominican Republic, Joel Adrián Santos Echavarría, the Minister of Mines and Energy of Colombia, Andrés Camacho Morales, the Secretary of Energy of Panama, Juan Manuel Urriola, the Vice Minister of Renewable Energy of Bolivia, Ronald Alberto Veizaga Baqueros, and Vice Minister of Energy of Honduras, Tomás Rodriguez. At the meetings, the different technical assistance activities carried out by ECLAC with each of the countries were reviewed, and details were adjusted for their participation in the Regional Energy Transition Dialogues, which will take place between the 26th and the 29th. November 2024 in Guatemala.
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