An ‘artificial’ increase
But this increase in the percentage of compliance has not been the result of an increase in the energy generated in wind or solar plants, or the start-up of new plants of this type. The document reports a marginal increase –of 1.42%– in renewable generation, which even includes a drop in wind power.
In order to raise the percentage that has been presented in the document, despite the stagnation in renewable generation, the federal administration has resorted to counting a type of electrical energy that until recently was not part of the reports. In the latest Prodesen – the governing document for electricity policy – Sener has included something that it has called free energy from fossil fuels and additional energy for cooling, which is generated in combined cycle plants, but that until recently the regulation did not allow accounting.
The adjustment has been made from one day to the next: last Friday an agreement of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) was published, approved days before without the regulatory improvement process and via fast track, to update the reference values to determine the percentage of free energy from fuel. With this, the energy generated by the steam of the combined cycles is classified as clean.
The deal has sparked outcry from environmental organizations and others representing companies that have invested in wind and solar plants.