The Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) participated this Monday in the panel “The Evolution of the Electricity Grid: Incorporating flexibility in a cost-effective manner” of the IX Energy Week, organised by the Latin American Energy Organisation (OLADE) in Asunción, Paraguay.

In the activity, the SELA Adviser, Ricardo Michel, accompanied by experts and specialists in the field, stressed that “regional integration, at the end of the day, generates more efficient and socially beneficial networks,” providing opportunities for rural and remote areas to join smart grids, in order to have “a better quality of life and greater economic growth and development.”

In this regard, he stressed that the relationship among countries is fundamental for regional integration. “Regional cooperation among countries is essential to overcome technical, regulatory and political challenges,” he said.

In his speech, he also stressed that there are three fundamental pillars for achieving energy integration, based on: regional cooperation and interconnection, greater regional energy integration, and the expansion of cross-border electricity interconnections, so that countries can share electricity resources and, in this way, cover the intermittency and variability in the supply and demand of energy in Latin America.

He emphasised that activities such as the IX Energy Week promote integration and the exchange of points of view among the different countries. “Seeing the needs of some and the potential of others in this type of spaces generates the integration that is necessary for the region,” Michel added.

The SELA Adviser stressed that having a common energy market in the region would increase efficiency and reduce the costs of the electricity grid, as well as allow countries to trade among themselves, promoting their “comparative and competitive advantages,” and helping “meet the supply and demand that we have in the region.”

The panel, available on OLADE’s YouTube channel, reflected on how technologies that provide flexibility to electricity systems can be integrated efficiently and cost-effectively to meet the challenges of the transition and move towards a greener and more resilient electricity matrix. He also analysed the strategies and technologies that allow for greater flexibility and their contribution to the sustainability and reliability of the electricity grid.

SELA will participate again this Tuesday 29 October in the IX Energy Week, in the panel “Advances towards a Low-Carbon Hydrogen Economy in LAC,” an activity that will also be broadcast on YouTube.

The IX Energy Week, which runs until Friday 01 November in Paraguay, is a high-level event in the energy sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, where experiences and knowledge are shared and a space for contact and dialogue between the actors in the sector, both public and private is created. Find out more about this event on their Web site: https://semanadelaenergia.olade.org/