Electricity_Supply_BOLIVIA_text

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(3) “What are the biggest potentials concerning renewable energy production in Bolivia and what obstacles hinder a higher degree of their use now or in the future?” The world's richest countries, among them the European Union and the United States, are trying to find a solution to the climate crisis, they negotiate how much they must reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, and they have established targets for the proportion of total electricity consumption to come from renewable sources. Meanwhile, here in Bolivia, one of Latin America´s poorest countries, we have already achieved to get nearly half of all electricity from renewable sources. Bolivia has the potential to reach a 100 percent green energy production for power use, but we need more commitment from the government. Let's take a look at some of the greatest potentials for renewable energy production in Bolivia; a) Hydroelectric plants. Bolivia already covers 40 percent of their power

consumption with the help of hydropower. With the new projected plants around in the national territory it will be possible to cover up to 60 percent of the consumption. b) Bolivia in relation to Europe as an average receives more than twice the solar

radiation; therefore the photovoltaic systems have higher performance in terms of power generation. Despite this so far solar panels are only used in microscale projects for power supply in rural areas that are not connected to the country's electricity network. c) In 2009 Bolivia received their wind map, which showed the great potential that

exists to exploit the power of wind. In a large part of the department of Santa Cruz the annual average wind speed is 7-9 m/s at 80 m. So far there is no wind farm in Bolivia. d) Geothermal energy has so far only been exploited in small scale projects, but

the national electricity company is performing a final design study for the electric power generation exploiting the geothermal steam of Laguna Colorada en Potosí. This project has a potential of 370 MW. The biggest obstacles that hinder the full use of these renewable energy sources are the following; 1. Bolivia has one of the largest reserves of natural gas in Latin America, therefore

it can generate electricity with natural gas at a very low cost, which encourages businesses and government to build more of these traditional power plants. 2. There are no state subsidies for innovative project that can give the start to

energy production from renewable sources like sun and wind power. 3. There have not been made many technical studies on the potential from

different sources of renewable energy. There is also a lack of feasibility studies that can help make viable projects.


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