The sun waits for Venezuela

For Venezuela, achieving a safe and reliable supply of its electrical energy requires the collaboration of all, seeing it only as a responsibility of the government, would be a comfortable and not real position, in the short or medium term.

A joint action is required, where all the actors: applicants and suppliers of the electric service participate. It is a matter of state, of national security, but above all of social responsibility.

When power cut or rationing measures are required, we are all affected, and a feeling of anguish and uncertainty is generated in which the political or ideological ceases to have meaning. The priority becomes the protection of the family, our food, our quality of life.

But is there a solution in the short term to reach that balance in the supply of electrical energy that no longer requires service rationing?

Yes, there is. Parallel to the macro plans for the recovery of the electrical network, it is required to directly address the great demander of energy in the country, which is the residential sector. Because it is this sector that consumes, and here this percentage is conservative, at least 50% of the national electricity supply.

What is that strategy?

We are talking about a Venezuelan-style strategy.

Create alternate energy supply directly, individually, to that great demander, which is residential, which grows more every day and therefore requires electric service.

What does it mean, when I say, alternative energy supplies directly in an individualized way to the residential sector?

We refer to help from a single-family home, to buildings, remote communities, towns, neighborhoods, entire parishes, through the supply and storage of energy with photovoltaic technology.

I clarify once and for all that I am not selling solar panels or photovoltaic technology systems, I am exposing a government solution, a strategy to recover and mitigate the uncertainty generated by power cuts. An immediate response, to normalize, strengthen and advance in the strengthening of that great driver of the economy, which is the electricity sector.

Did this strategy occur to me on one of those late nights or did I copy it from somewhere on the internet?

No. A resounding NO. I have been dedicated for more than a decade to the installation of photovoltaic systems at residential, industrial and commercial levels, both in Canada and in the US. And I see and understand why those countries generate huge incentives to the residential sector, encouraging them to install photovoltaic systems as a strategy to protect their state or provincial power grid.

They also permanently suffer from electrical contingencies and seek to calm down, give peace of mind to their population. And such has been the positive response, that in recent years the governments of those countries have accelerated investments in renewable energy, mainly in photovoltaic energy, due to its ease of adaptation to the residential sector.

In the Venezuelan case, in a first stage, the residential sector should begin to progressively become independent of the network, with photovoltaic technology that has storage capacity, that is, add deep-cycle batteries, which allows them to produce the electrical rationing, you will always have accumulated electrical energy to function with basic consumption.

It is a social program that the national government should lead, just as it has done with the Housing Mission.

And in a second stage,

It should also encourage, through incentives, the private sector to invest as small or medium electric generators that sell their electricity production to the grid with these alternative technologies.

In both cases, these actions would immediately help the national electricity grid to stabilize.

It is unthinkable at present to believe that the solution is to go for mega-projects and mega-investments, at least not in the short or medium term.

But it is conceivable to invest in the help of the inhabitants so that they have at least 1 social kilowatt of storage, which guarantees it to function even in the contingencies of power outages or rationing.

The Sun and its photovoltaic energy awaits us!!

Lubio Lenin Cardozo. Venezuelan engineer and environmentalist. Technician in Photovoltaic Systems, with more than 300 MegaWatts installed between Canada and USA