More electricity demand and more renewables

Electricity demand closed 2022 with a 3.7 percent growth over the previous year, according to the Fundación para el Desarrollo Eléctrico (Fundelec). Data by type of user show a 3.9 percent annual growth in residential consumption, 4.4 percent in commercial consumption, and 1.9 percent in industrial consumption. In total, households accounted for 45.7 percent of electricity consumption, followed by commercial (27.7 percent) and industrial (26.6 percent).

Last December, the average temperature was 25.1 °C, one tenth higher than the same month in 2021. This factor, together with the higher economic activity in the year-on-year comparison are the main causes to explain the 4.6 percent increase in electricity consumption in the comparison compared to December 2021. Meanwhile, the historical power record of 28,283 megawatts was verified on the 6th at 14:43 hours.

Renewables

One of the highlights of the electricity market in 2022 was the increase in the participation of renewable energies in the generation set. According to the latest information provided by Cammesa, the production of renewable energies presented in 2022 a 10.6 percent growth compared to 2021.

"The growth of renewable energies increased their participation in covering the demand, going from 13 percent in 2021 to 13.9 percent in 2022 over the demand supplied, where in this last period it reached a monthly participation of almost 18 percent", Cammesa indicated.

Almost three quarters of the renewable energy generated in 2022 came from wind farms, followed by solar farms, with approximately 15 percent. The rest corresponds to small hydroelectric and bioenergy developments.

Looking ahead to the next few years, the renewable sector expects the upward trend in terms of participation in the electricity matrix to continue. The key, they warn, is to resolve the bottlenecks in the electricity transmission sector, given that the demand for renewable energy far exceeds supply.