The few advances in some transmission projects and the non-completion of an electrical substation have Bogotá and Cundinamarca on the brink of a blackout.
The warning was made by Belizza Ruiz, former Vice Minister of Energy, in a Facebook Live with EL TIEMPO. She also said that the Southwest faces the same risk because there are serious problems in some transmission lines.
(Also read: Belizza Ruiz on Irene Vélez: «I would like a different person in Minminas»)
Was it responsible for Minister Vélez saying that there will be no new oil contracts based on a study with serious flaws?
Beyond the responsibility of one person, I must concentrate on the technical response. If new contracts requested from a demand analysis are signedparticularly gas, which is a fuel that has allowed the transition to less polluting technologies.
Gas is used in Colombia in the residential, transportation, and industrial sectors, and its demand is projected to grow while the transition technologies. This allows us to conclude if new contracts should be given or not, to what extent it has to be done or if a time door is opened, which will be reduced until it is brought to zero. That is the type of analysis that has to be presented to define if the contracts are delivered or not.
(Also: Belizza Ruiz: «Did Minister Irene Vélez lie? Yes, and I have the proof»).
Do you think that Minister Vélez is a guarantee for the energy transition that the country requires?
It is a difficult question. As a citizen, no longer as a vice minister, I would like to have a different personBut those decisions are made by the President. There are people who, considering that it is very good because it prints the social and environmental part, but I think that in technical matters it has deficiencies, I do not want it to continue there, because I do not want there to be rationing either.
There are risks of blackouts…
Former Vice Minister of Energy, Belizza Ruiz.
Ministry of Mines and Energy
To give you just two examples, here in Bogotá and Cundinamarca there is a probability of blackout due to difficulties in transmission projects and a substation that could not be completed. And in the southwest of the country there are problems with another transmission line. If this is not resolved soon, there is a probability that there will be a power outage because there is high congestion in the networks and they no longer hold.
These issues hurt me because we have the energy resources to generate, the willingness of the companies to invest and build, but the management of the sector requires dynamism, speed and much more government support so that the processes are not so bureaucratic and can be executed.
How long could it take to get to that situation?
I would prefer that it be the ministry (of Mines and Energy) that provides this information. They have all the details, they know the difficulties that are occurring in the eastern part of the country, they know the problems they are facing because they have been of a legal nature.
It is an interconnection that requires the center of the country. In the last week he received that alert from the company about a probability that if this is not resolved soon the center (of the country) could be without electrical supply.
(Also read: You have to «guarantee legal security,» say energy unions to Petro)
Do you share the President’s decision to intervene in the market?
Until the decree comes out, it is difficult to answer the question. What is certain is that the Constitution allows you to do so, that is within the framework of legality. If it is rushed, then I would prefer to know President Petro’s decree first, make an analysis and then issue an opinion.
What remains pending in the regulation of the electricity sector?
In a session of the Creg chaired by Minister Irene Vélez, approved a Reliability Charge auction for new solar and wind energy projects to enter, mainly. What happens is that these resolutions are discussed, decided and sometimes it takes several meetings to make a final decision. But, at least at that point, it will go up for auction, I understand that that one was approved and that is good news.
Why haven’t energy rates gone down as expected?
First, these depend on some formulas that have been updated I think twice. When one looks at the tariff formula, that is a sum that includes generation, transmission, distribution, commercialization and other components, it is a complex formula.
I think that formula should be completely changed. and that, after some rigorous technical studies, the new one reflects these reductions and values electrical energy in its fair measure.
