Expert affirms that, without distributed generation, the DR's energy transition will be more expensive, slower and less fair

Marvin Fernández, president of the Association for the Promotion of Renewable Energies (ASOFER), suggests promoting decentralization in the generation of electrical energy to democratize generation with renewable sources.

SANTO DOMINGO. - Marvin Fernandez, president of the Association for the Promotion of Renewable Energies (ASOFER), explained the importance of distributed generation to guarantee an efficient energy transition since, otherwise, "the energy transition that we are seeking as a country is going to be much more expensive, much slower and less fair."

La renewable distributed generation It consists of the production of electrical energy generally on the roof of residences, businesses and industries located as close as possible to the loads, reducing the need for investment in electrical infrastructure, while improving the quality of the energy and technical losses.

Among his proposals, Fernández suggests promote further decentralization in the generation of electrical energy, to massify and democratize generation with renewable sources. As well as carrying out a plan to install solar panels in remote communities. of low resources in order to reduce the levels of subsidies to the electricity rate and technical losses, which he claims will help improve the finances of the electricity sector, while reducing dependence on the use of fossil fuels and contributing to which is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

"It is not true that distribution companies lose with this type of renewable energy, but rather they win because they reduce the price at which they buy energy in the market, alleviate the overload of distribution transformers and network congestion," he clarified. .

Decentralization in energy production improves the sustainability and efficiency of the electrical system, while having a positive economic impact on the entire society, and improving energy security.

He said that distributed renewable energies bring great economic, social and environmental benefits to the country, and underlined ASOFER's continuous commitment to promoting the growth of the sector from different areas, especially regulatory.

Fernández, who participated in the Permanent Seminar of the Dominican Reality (SEMPER), which carried out the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), Fernández addressed the current and future panorama of renewable energies in the country.

The discussion with the energy expert focused on the advances and challenges that the country faces in its transition towards more sustainable energy sources, topics that the public, private and academic sectors analyzed in the activity. “We know that currently there is a very, very large deficit of meters in the distribution companies and there are many people, more than 800,000 users who are connected to the network in direct connection, without meters, paying a fixed rate,” Fernández mentioned.

Due to the number of clients that consume electricity from the distribution network and do not pay for the service, he explained that distributors experience significant losses in energy management.

Fernández highlighted that the growth of the country's electricity demand is much greater than the growth of installed capacity in distributed generation. The three main distributors have more than three million customers, and in 2023 alone they attracted 58,000 new customers.

Meanwhile from 2012 to 2023, Only 14,763 clients have installed solar panels within the Net Metering Program, which barely represent 0.48% of all their clients. Therefore, the penetration level of distributed renewable energy use is still very low. According to Fernández, this growth demonstrates the need to reduce obstacles and streamline processes to promote the use of clean energy.

He emphasized the importance of studying the level of penetration of renewable energy admissible in distribution circuits, a step that he considers crucial to determine how much renewable energy can be supported by each circuit.

He explained that these studies, proposed by the Superintendence of Electricity (SIE), are fundamental for the regulatory and technical development of the sector. He highlighted that these efforts not only benefit the environment, but also improve the efficiency and quality of life of users, generating employment, competitiveness and reducing emissions.