The Useful Energy Balance (BEU, for its acronym in Spanish) for the Republic of Paraguay was launched on Wednesday, April 26, in an activity organized by the Vice Ministry of Mines and Energy of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications of that country and The Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization (OLACDE).
This update of energy indicators, after more than a decade, provides statistical information on energy consumption in the transport, residential and industrial sectors; the technology applied and the efficiency with which it is consumed.
For the Vice Minister of Mines and Energy, Carlos Zaldivar, it is a milestone for the development of a more sustainable energy matrix. He considered that it will be key for the diversified and efficient use of energy. “From the BEU it will be possible to identify the potential for energy savings in the different end uses, whether due to technological changes, substitution of sources or changes in consumption habits,” he said.
For his part, OLACDE’s Director of Studies, Projects and Information, Medardo Cadena, emphasized that the BEU provides an information infrastructure for Paraguay’s energy transition. “This is not just any project; it represented a lot of work in the field,” he said.
Vice Minister Carlos Zaldivar provided relevant figures derived from the project. On the one hand, he pointed out that in the transport sector there is a high consumption of diesel (62.9%) compared to other sources, but that the implementation of electric mobility “will be key to move towards a low-carbon economy”.
In the residential sector, there is a high consumption in the use of biomass (46.2%), compared to the consumption of electric energy (38.6%).
At the industrial level the use of biomass is 84%. “This will be countered with the Biomass Certification Program that is being promoted by the Vice Ministry of Mines and Energy in governance with other state institutions and with the support of the private sector,” said the Vice Minister.
The event was attended by high authorities of the country and representatives of international organizations such as Verónica Prado, representative of the Inter-American Development Bank.
The project was executed by OLACDE, through the Vice Ministry of Mines and Energy of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (VMME-MOPC) of Paraguay, with financing from the European Union under the EUROCLIMA Program in coordination with AECID and the Agence française de développement en Amérique Latine (AFD).
The BEU provides information on consumption by subsectors, uses and technologies; it provides detailed knowledge on energy needs and the efficiency with which available energy is consumed.
It is a fundamental tool for the design of public policies and energy sector planning. It is also an input for energy prospective studies.
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