Abstract
Against the background of supply deficiency and citizen opposition to the construction of large-scale hydro power plants, numerous movements against energy projects emerged during the last decade and ultimately paved the way for a participatory energy policy design process in Chile. The “Energy 2050” strategy was developed through a participative process that lasted over 18 months aiming at technical, political, and social legitimacy through the involvement of energy experts, civil society, bureaucrats, and government officials. “Energy 2050” set a shared vision of a long-term sustainable energy future which translated into a series of policy goals, of which the most relevant are a 70 per cent RE share in the electricity system by 2050 and the creation of partnership and shared value mechanisms between energy companies and communities. Although the renewable energy (RE) market is skewed towards international utility-scale projects, RE consumer (co-)ownership schemes have been able to evolve both on-grid and off-grid. Though legally allowed, partnership participation in RE projects has not been reported for energy generation projects. Limited Liability companies are common. Furthermore, electricity distribution cooperatives are active, for whom per DFL-1 law it is mandatory to provide electricity to interested parties in a geographical area for which they own the concession even if a loss is expected. Net Billing can be used by individuals or by organized groups of people sharing an electric connection to the grid. In the off-grid sector, electrification projects for poor and isolated communities may take different organizational structures, including private, municipal, or community-managed models depending on the local conditions, the commitment of local government, and the engagement of the community.
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Notes
- 1.
As stated by a representative of the Ministry of Energy in an interview from 12 January 2018.
- 2.
The first RES mandate was implemented in 2008 through Law 20.257, the so-called non-conventional RE Law, which defined the types of renewables considered as non-conventional and defined a progressive quota of renewable electricity generation from 5 per cent in 2014 up to 10 per cent in 2024.
- 3.
Understood as final electricity consumers whose electric load is less or equal to 2000 kW, and who are therefore considered to be subject to natural monopolistic electricity markets, whereas consumers above that threshold are considered free customers; customers with an electric load above 500 kW may choose which system (regulated or free) to be subject to (CNE n.d.-b).
- 4.
Prosumers need to send a request for connection to the EDC, which must respond within 5–30 days. If the prosumer agrees with the terms, the EDC delivers the contract, which specifies the tariff model that applies to the prosumer, the installed capacity, and technical specifications of the installation.
- 5.
The general Law on Cooperatives of 1978, was modified in 2016 (Law 20.881) highlighting inclusion criteria and aiming to facilitate management processes.
- 6.
Smart farming is based on Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and big data analytics aimed at increasing crop productivity by conducting electronic monitoring of crops, environmental, soil, fertilization, and irrigation conditions.
- 7.
Micro-grids have already been installed in Aacondo, (Tarapacá region); Ollagüe (Antofagasta region); El Romeral (Coquimbo region), and Robinsoe Crusoe Island (Valparaíso region) (Aracena and Farías 2013).
- 8.
As opposed to the Energy Efficiency sector, which has made great progress in terms of Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) on behalf of the National Association of Energy Efficiency Companies (ANESCO).
- 9.
20 interviews in Copiapó, 16 interviews in San José de Maipo and 20 in Coyhaique to local avowed leaders. Cfr. National Fondecyt Research 1150607.
- 10.
In order to take advantage of the excellent wind conditions in Chile, the Chiloé Wind Park Project (PECh) aimed to construct and operate 42 wind turbines of 2.4 MW each, with a total power capacity of 100.8 MW (Garrido et al. 2015). Its energy was meant to be fed into one of the four main electricity interconnected systems in Chile (Garrido et al. 2015). Although the Chilean-Swedish Company Ecopower declared that the selected area Mar Brava was an unprotected and uninhabited area to avoid an evaluation of environmental impacts, about 5000 persons including three indigenous communities inhabit that area (Garrido et al. 2015).
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Acknowledgements:
The authors are grateful for the support of the Consejo Nacional de Ciencias y Tecnología (Anillo ACT1410), CORFO (18BPCR-89100, 17BPE-73748, and 16BPE2-66227), the Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USA1555), the Comité Solar and the support of the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development of Chile, Research Project N° 1150607.
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Feron, S., Baigorrotegui, G., Parker, C., Opazo, J., Cordero, R. (2019). Consumer (Co-)Ownership in Renewables in Chile. In: Lowitzsch, J. (eds) Energy Transition. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93518-8_24
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