President Piñera launches Energy Roadmap with social element and requests that progress be made on 11 mega commitments

President of Chile Sebastián Piñeraand Minister of Energy Susana Jiménez today announced the "2018-2022 Energy Roadmap: Leading modernization with a social element,"which will guide the government's work on energy generation and distribution.

"The commitment we made to all Chileans was that the country would move towards comprehensive, inclusive and sustainable development and towards a more competitive, cleaner and more sustainable energy matrix. And that is precisely what the Energy Roadmap aims to do," said he said.

Piñera also said that in terms of energy, "Chile must maintain its leadership, because thanks to our natural conditions, we have the comparative advantages necessary to be a leader in the generation of new energies and in the generation of new technologies that can be used to produce those energies."

The President called for the development of unconventional solutions, the continued development of the country’s hydroelectric potential, and an increase in the capacity for electric power generation. "We are already seeing the first signs, the first rays of light that show that our country has returned to strong growth after a period of great economic stagnation," he said.

The Energy Roadmapwas developed through a participatoryprocess with 2,200 representatives from the country’s 15 regional capitalsand has seven strategic areas: energy modernization, energy with a social element, energy development, low-emission energy, sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, and energy education and training.

The focus of the Energy Roadmapwill be to modernize energy infrastructure in every corner of the country, closing service gaps and allowing all Chileans greater access to technology and digitalization, thus fostering an energy culture.

Other participants at the event included the Minister of Economy, José Ramón Valente; the Minister of Education, Gerardo Varela; the Undersecretary of Energy, Ricardo Irarrázabal; and numerous officials from the public and private sectors, as well as union leaders, academics and civil society representatives.

Mega commitments

During the presentation of the Energy Roadmap, President Piñera asked the Minister of Energy to place special emphasis on 11 mega-commitments:

1. The creation of a map of the country's energy vulnerability, identifying families that have no electricity or other energy services.
2. The modernization of the institutional framework for electric power, in particular the Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels (SEC) and the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CChEn).
3. The reduction of the processing time for environmental projects submitted to the +Energy Plan by 25% over the timeframes recorded in the last four years.
4. Quadrupling of the current capacity for distributing renewable small-scale energy (less than 300 KW) by 2022.
5. The achievement of a tenfold increase in the number of electric vehicles in Chile.
6. The modernization of electric power distribution regulation through a participatory process.
7. The introduction of regulations for solid biofuels such as firewood and its derivatives, granting the Ministry of Energy the powers necessary to establish technical specifications and apply regulations for the sale of firewood in urban areas.
8. The creation of a regulatory framework for energy efficiency that provides the incentives necessary to promote the efficient use of energy in the sectors of greatest consumption (industry, mining, transportation and construction), thus creating a true energy culture in the country.
9. The initiation of a decarbonization process for the energy matrix through the preparation of a timeline for the withdrawal or reconversion of coal-fired power plants, and the introduction of concrete measures in electro-mobility.
10. Training of 6,000 operators, technicians and professionals in the electric power, fuel and renewable energy sectors, in order to develop skills and abilities in the management and sustainable use of energy, providing certification to at least 3,000 of the trainees.
11. The achievement of robust progress in regional energy integration.

►Learn more by downloading the 2018-2022 Energy Roadmap here.