The fifth edition of the Paris Conference concluded today after two days of debates and lectures with international speakers to address multilaterally and strategically the slogan of “A World in Transition“.
In the panel “The Clean Energy Revolution: What awaits us?”, Five speakers participated: the president of Integra Capital and shareholder in Edenor, Grupo América and El Cronista, José Luis Manzano; ENGIE Executive Vice President Didier Holleaux; and Schneider Electric’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Gwenaelle Avice-Huet, did it in person.
The panel addressed issues such as the new energy revolution; the most auspicious renewable energy sources 40 years from now. And the million dollar question: how can we get to a point where we can be 100% renewable?
Asked about the role of Integra Capital in the value of energy change and why the energy revolution is important for the company, Manzano explained that “we started as diversified investors around 2002, in 2006 we switched to oil and gas, and in 2008 we discovered that we faced a great challenge”.
“So we started moving the ship, seeing how we could play a role there, and we started a cooperation with (former American) Vice President Al Gore, we brought him in to spread the news in Latin America that things were not going in the right direction”.
“So we try to find for ourselves a role of shareholder catalysts” and keeping in mind that “the energy transition is an omelette and it will need to break an egg”, “we try to bring the eggs to the omelette. We try to bring the critical materials, lithium, copper, rare earths, gold – gold is not just for jewelry, it’s for semiconductors – we try to act as a catalyst. “
In view of the fact that Edenor is the largest electricity distributor in the country, “we are the main electricity consumers in Argentina and we tell people that many decisions have to be made that are not ‘cool’ and he explained what the mix of energy sources would be like towards the future.
“The mix may keep natural gas. I think it will have to have nuclear energy. The mix will have a lot of solar and wind and hydrogenic energy, it will be better than the current one, but it will not be as ‘cool’ as people think. It will be a future. less dreamed of”, he predicted.
“Latin America contributes a very small part of the carbon dioxide emission and can contribute a large part of the solution, for critical materials, for the rainforest, but at the same time there is a growing population with demands that were met. old-fashioned “.
“For example, we have the largest electricity company in Argentina, but how many solar panel roofs are there? Almost zero. How many electric vehicle chargers are there, maybe 50, 150? In a population of 40 million people.”
And he pointed out that in Latin America and Africa “it is not a question of rebuilding, but of building, there are a lot of things that are not done.” Therefore, if in these latitudes the “concepts of energy efficiency and decarbonized sources are introduced, perhaps it can be done well and for this, the key will be money: the carrot and the stick. They are both.”
Source: El Cronista
