El Salvador. In El Salvador, 80% of the electricity produced in the country comes from renewable sources, with geothermal being the largest contributor, according to data from the Executive Hydroelectric Commission of the Lempa River (CEL).
This vocation for sustainable production and the transparency demonstrated by the institutions of the administration of President Nayib Bukele have earned El Salvador its recent selection by the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) to lead the Collaborative Dialogue Framework on High Penetration of Renewable Energies.
The autonomous reported that the designation took place in a virtual event in which the representatives of the other nations learned how El Salvador went from being a country with a high consumption of hydrocarbons to prioritizing environmentally friendly production.
«Under the vision of President Bukele, the energy matrix has been consolidated into more than 80% of renewable energy. We want to share with the Irena countries everything we are doing to advance this issue,» said the representative of El Salvador before Irena, Vanessa Interiano.
The expert explained that under the vision of the president, it was possible to rescue two important projects that had remained stalled due to the lack of execution capacity in previous administrations: one was the most modern natural gas plant in Latin America and the other, the first wind farm in the country.
«After years of waiting for the bureaucracy, the head of state was instructed to streamline the processes and now these companies are generating economic benefits for Salvadorans,» Interiano added to the representatives of the member countries of the organization.
She pointed out that the commitment of the current administration is to continue generating renewable projects, a vision that is inherent to the country’s responsibility to generate actions that contribute to minimizing the impacts of climate change.
«With more countries moving in this direction, it is clear that a comprehensive approach to energy planning is crucial, as is the need to rethink the operation of the energy system,» she said.
GEOTHERMAL, EL SALVADOR’S WHITE PETROLEUM
In September of this year, the country hosted the High-Level Meeting of the Global Geothermal Alliance, where it explained to representatives of other countries the country’s potential for generating this type of energy, which could supply 35% of the national demand, according to the president of CEL, Daniel Álvarez.
«Geothermal energy is a quarter of our demand and we have the capacity to reach 35% of the matrix in the short and medium term. We are positioning ourselves as leaders in geothermal energy; the world is seeing El Salvador with different eyes », she commented.
Source: El Salvador in English.
