Bolivia is committed to producing electricity due to the depletion of natural gas due to lack of investment

At 3,700 meters above sea level is the Bolivian bet to face a future of renewable energy and eliminate its dependence on fossil fuels.

It is the largest and tallest photovoltaic plant in the world, located in the highland town of Ancotanga, with more than 300,000 photovoltaic panels located on 214 hectares.

The generation of electricity based on renewable sources is Bolivia’s big bet in the face of lower gas production due to the decline of some fields and in the absence of discoveries of new wells due to the lack of investment. Bolivia has signed addenda to its gas export contracts with Brazil and Argentina to decrease volumes in 2019 and 2020.

The Ancotanga plant, along with other similar plants and three wind plants, are part of the national plan to replace fossil fuels and turn the country into an exporter.

The Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energies, Franklin Molina, reported that the objective is to diversify the country’s energy matrix by incorporating renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources to replace the consumption of fossil fuels.

“As a country we have drawn a line to achieve a robustness of our electricity matrix ”, said. “Our country has enormous potential in terms of renewable energy sources, the use is below 10%”.

According to the authority, Bolivia has the installed capacity to generate about 3,800 megawatts (MW) and domestic consumption barely reaches 1,600 MW, so plans to export electricity instead of gas are part of the country’s objectives.

Given the large supply of electricity, Molina explained that the Government launched a series of tax incentives for the importation of electric and hybrid cars, and the installation of assembly plants for this type of vehicle.

The country uses solar, wind, hydraulic and biomass energy, but depends mainly on thermoelectric plants (71%), which consume the natural gas that is exported to Argentina and Brazil.

“We are going to increase the available power of renewable energies and that gas that is currently being used for electricity consumption will be destined for export.“Said the minister.

Natural gas production is around 44 million cubic meters per day (MMm3 / d), 28% less compared to 2014, according to official data.

For the energy specialist Mauricio Medinaceli Bolivian gas exports are going through a “very fragile” moment, because the country does not have the capacity to meet the demands of the Argentine and Brazilian markets.

Bolivia It also needs gas to guarantee the operation of its ammonia and urea plants, cement factories, the industrialization of iron deposits and the delayed petrochemical industry, among other projects.

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Medinacelli argues that the problem for the Bolivian economy is not only to replace the use of gas with other energies, but also to resolve the state subsidy for fuels.

“The true reconversion of the energy matrix involves eliminating subsidies, there is no possibility for renewable energies to compete with the price of subsidized gas“, said.

The Bolivian State spends around US $ 1,200 million annually on the import of fuels, but also loses about US $ 300 million in the subsidy, according to official information.

“There is an excessive use of natural gas precisely because it is cheap. In this context, asking people to use solar energy or wind energy is very difficult because these energies are more expensive than subsidized natural gas.“, He added Medinaceli.