President Bachelet: “We now have a solid National Energy Policy to enable us to plan and coordinate our efforts”
The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, was in the Las Camelias courtyard at La Moneda Palace to receive the document “Energy 2050” from the Energy Minister, Máximo Pacheco,. It is the result of a participatory planning process to define Chile’s long-term national energy policy, culminating in the President signing the corresponding Supreme Decree today.
In her speech, the President mentioned that this has been a year of intense work that is beginning to bear fruit, such as this new policy. She said, “Chile is a mature country fully capable of facing tremendous challenges and, when faced with difficulties, we can make the necessary changes to ensure that the country can forge ahead stronger than before. My Government is taking a long-term view, and is committed to doing today everything necessary to secure a better future.”
Creating this strategy was part of President Bachelet’s Government program and the Energy Agenda submitted in May 2014, which built a shared vision for the sector, with the social and technical validation to transform it into the policy that Chile needs.
It was prepared from information gathered since August 2014 from a very wide range of sources: workshops and discussions held throughout Chile, including 130 meetings in which over 3,500 people participated; strategic proposals from the Consultative Committee, led by the Energy Minister and including 27 key stakeholders, whose mission was to build a shared vision for the sector for 2050, which resulted in the document “Roadmap 2050” presented on September 29, 2015; 30 plenary meetings and over 150 meetings of the Thematic Experts Groups, together with seminars and specialized workshops; regional workshops; and, in line with a recommendation from the OECD, a virtual platform to harness citizen participation.
President Bachelet welcomed this approach, as “a policy built in this manner with effective participation ensures that all stakeholders believe it to be their policy, which is the cornerstone of its legitimacy. We are delighted to be able to say that we now have a solid National Energy Policy to enable us to plan and coordinate our efforts.”
She underscored the importance of this sector to support Chile’s sustained growth, and transform its society, making it integrally developed and environmentally sustainable. She said that “Chile wants to be a leader during this transition, and this agenda show us that we can be”.
She took the opportunity to “thank everyone who took part and devoted a substantial amount of their time to produce the “Energy 2050″ policy. I am grateful that you supported this project, which will extend beyond any one government’s term in office, as it is a policy of the State to which we all belong. This policy also makes us responsible for the welfare of future generations”.
President Bachelet mentioned some of the principal goals that the policy has defined for the next 35 years, as follows: all housing for disadvantaged families is to have continuous and high quality energy services; at least 70% of national electricity generation is to be from renewable energy; all energy projects in Chile are to have community engagement programs; Chile is to be one of the 3 OECD countries with the lowest average electricity prices; high standards of efficient construction are to apply to all new buildings, which are also to incorporate intelligent energy management and control systems; all the main categories of electrical equipment sold in Chile are to include energy efficient equipment; Chile is to be connected to the Sistema de Interconexión Eléctrica Andina (Andean Electricity Interconnection System) and to Mercosur countries, among others.
The President emphasized, “these are ambitious targets, but precisely what we need. Less than this would be to ignore our responsibility. We must therefore start working immediately.”
President Bachelet concluded by saying, “we live at a time when great determination and action are needed. This is how we can fulfill our responsibilities; this is how Chile addresses its challenges. 2016 is drawing near, so I invite you to continue working for Chile, to pull together and secure our shared well-being, for a better quality of life for all”.