Juan J. Aranguren, the Argentine Energy and Mining minister, was present along with seven members of his cabinet, as were various representatives: ministers, secretaries and presidents of regulating entities. Attendees from 18 of the 23 provinces were present. Also participating were four ex-National Energy Secretaries (Daniel Montamat, Emilio Apud, Jorge Lapeña and Raúl Olloco, who are now part of the ministry’s Consulting Council.
The meeting took place over two days. During the first day, time was spent discussing various aspects of an electricity tariff, and it was agreed upon to continue the conversation in a more precise manner during the next CFE meeting. The meeting will be held in November in the province of Corrientes.
It was agreed upon between the CFE and the Federal Electric Energy Council that they would work together on various energy-related issues. The CFE is relatively new and the Federal Electric Energy Council has more than ten years of experience.
In the evening, subsecretary Andrea Heins made a presentation of past and future actions related to her area of Energy Savings and Efficiency. Of particular interest was the SME credit investment in energy efficiency projects and the PLAE, the Efficient Lighting Plan, which is already underway. The credit is set at a rate of 9% annually in Argentine pesos and comes through the Argentine Energy Efficiency Fund.
On the second day, and by request of the provincial representatives, details on the Energy Distribution law were given by congressman Juan Carlos Villalona of the Cambiemos party. He stated that the Energy Commission is already in condition to give its opinion on the project due to a consensus being present.
From the Ministry of Energy spoke the Renewable Energy Subsecretary, Sebastian Kind, and the Director of Promotion, Maximiliano Morrone. They explained the logic and details surrounding the project and how it would function within the national electric system. They also spoke of experiences and learned stories on the subject from countries such as Chile, Brazil and Australia.
The CFE was also presented with the perspective of the current energy situation by the unions. The consensus was to work together with the CFE in a search for general employment that adapts to the new industrial situation. Present were Antonio Cassia, secretary general of the SUPE Federation, as well as Rubén Bassi and Guillermo Mangone of the Workers Federation of the Gas Industry.
The last speaker was Julián Gadano, subsecretary of Nuclear Energy. He gave a complete panorama of the National Government’s plan regarding nuclear energy.
The next CFE meeting is set for November in the province of Corrientes. It will include topics that the energy agenda has on plan for 2018.