Hey. How do you do? How do you do? How do you
do? This is Pepe Morón speaking and I welcome you to this new chapter
of RCN Radio' s echo podcast. Today, we are all talking about
climate change, but what climate change is. Climate change is nothing but the
variation of the temperature of the planet. Earth this for some human activities,
such as the use and burning of fossil fuels, as well as deforestation.
Today a special and comprehensive programme to discuss this subject that undoubtedly affects us all
and has caused an increase in global temperatures, in addition to the changes in
the rain patterns that we have seen in our country in recent years. So
you know prepare a coffee, look for a little corner, comfortable and prepare
for this journey around the environmental world. Welcome, Eco Podcast, because the
environment is a theme for everyone. Climate change is not only an environmental problem,
but also a social and economic problem, because it affects some sectors such
as agriculture and health. In addition to that, it affects the energy supply,
the energy we need day by day. Precisely to discuss this issue.
We have a special guest expert on this and it' s going to help
us understand a little more what it' s about. It is Mr Gian
Paolo Dagger, who is manager of external relations and sustainability in Colombia and Central
America and who we welcome to this chapter of the co- podcast of rs
on Radio. Thank you very much for the invitation. Good Pepe. We
' re talking about global warming. From you let us give an initial perspective,
or what reading you do to this term that we have heard above all
in recent years and that we see little by little, it is affecting us
look or not b and turn on the television opens a newspaper, a magazine
and will find that climate change is a phenomenon that is already part of the
day to day of humanity. We found record temperatures, we started to find
gales, extreme weather situations and that is part of some way of what has
to be managed, in some way by countries, by companies, by citizens.
In this way, we see increasingly, within the framework of the commitment
of countries, within the framework of the Paris Agreement, countries making a commitment
to reducing their emissions. In the same vein, companies like Colombia have set
targets to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We, as a company, set
ourselves a goal for the year two thousand forty to reduce precisely these emissions.
And also how we are developing it, because we are going through the implementation
of new renewable energies. We are also going through projects to electrify energy consumption,
i e replace fossil energy consumption with clean renewable energy and thereby support cities,
industries and citizens throughout this energy transition process. The phenomenon of the child,
for example, or the phenomenon of the girl child are some of those
that are directly related to the issue of global warming and, moreover, are
phenomena that have directly to do with the distribution of energy in our country.
You see how these natural phenomena really affect you as energy distributors and how much
you can do about it when you look at the phenomena, both of the
boy and the girl, are phenomena that have always happened. The great or
great change we are experiencing is the situations so extreme that we are living with
these phenomena. Then we begin to see phenomena or rains with much higher precipitations,
or we begin to see electric shocks with different frequencies and intensities, or
in empren ns we will also see much more extreme droughts. When we are
talking about the phenomenon of the child, when one looks at the electricity sector,
all the components of the electricity sector, in each of their stages,
are affected by these climatic events, then we can see precisely how generation activities
can be affected by phenomena of both the child and the child. The same
transmission of energy and additionally the distribution of energy when it does not look punctually
at phenomena, for example, a child, because it makes us have a
lower amount of water available to generate energy in a country somehow generates additional stress
to the system. When you look at these events, also in the case
of distribution networks, they also begin to occur over heating equipment, fires that
can affect the distribution of energy, among others. And when we also see
that phenomena, such as that of the girl child, with climatic events of
high rainfall, also in the case of our energy, which is hydroelectric energy,
the main source that the country has at the moment, because many times
these increasing ones that go with the rivers contribute more of sediments to the reservoirs
can affect the same functioning of the units of generation. But additionally these also
rain events in the distribution business, because they can also generate precisely a greater
fall, for example, of trees, a greater amount of electric shocks on
the electrical networks in the same service of the operation and maintenance, being able
to access from one place to another in order to be able to make maintenances
is made difficult by the same state of the tracks. So, in the
end we see how we are in some way vulnerable also as a sector to
these extreme weather events that can be presented, because it is so important that
in our reality that today, as we see happens in the city of Bogotá,
people take care of the water in this dry season and how this relates
to the generation of energy when we look, because the care of the natural
resources must be an activity that must already be immersed in each one of us.
That is, not only in an extreme climate event we should think about
taking care of natural resources in a different way, but simply always. That
mentality and awareness must be maintained towards the preservation of resources. When we look
at an extreme phenomenon, such as a drought phenomenon, such as the child
phenomenon, these phenomena somehow create stress in the hydroelectric system. Colombia' s
energy matrix is mainly a matrix that is dependent on water. Then, when
we have decreased levels of reservoirs in some way, it is either so or
it generates or generates risks at some point of being able to have rationings or
it makes change all the planning of the operation and maintenance activities to guarantee the
reliability of the energy resource for the citizens. But also phenomena, also as
a climate phenomenon, such as children, can also be generated over heating in
the same networks, generating fires that can also affect the same operation as those
of energy distributions. Well, we' re talking about drought, we'
re talking about the level of reservoirs that we' ve heard so much about
in recent months because of the issue of the child phenomenon and how they affected
the power supply. You mention a godmother. I think right away about what
this means for Colombia, because I also understand there are other types of technologies
that can help the provision of energy service and you in it handle these issues.
Tell us about this, what it is precisely to take advantage of all
the great amount of natural resources that we have in a country like Colombia.
For more than seven years the Group has been promoting different energy developments and on
time, in the Colombian Caribbean we have been implementing and building different solutions,
also based on solar energy, photovoltaic projects. At this moment we already have
a park built, already delivered for the Colombian electrical system more than seven years
ago called El Paso, located in the department of César. We are currently
close to entering into commercial operation a project called La Loma, also located in
this department, a project called Fundación in the Magdalena department and we are in
stages of testing a solar project called Guayapo one and two in the Atlantic department.
All these solar projects complement the energy matrix of Colombia, guaranteeing precisely the
security and reliability of the Colombian energy system. Well, up to this point
I hear him talk about the consequences of drought in a country like Colombia and
its relationship to the energy issue. But when it rains and I ask him
why we are already close or adported to the phenomenon of the girl, the
hurricane season that was announced for the month of June and many rains for the
country. There is also a risk in the energy issue. Let' s
talk a little bit about those risks and how you guys plan on it.
From the neone, when we look at an extreme situation, as it can
also be the rains, also the electrical system, because it has, is
also vulnerable to precisely all these phenomena. When we look from the field of
generation, it can occur increasing in the rivers that somehow involve a greater drag
of sediments that can put in operation in difficulty the operation of the units of
generation. When we look at the distribution networks. There may also be electrical
shocks affecting the networks or also contact of the nets with vegetation, whether by
falling branches, falling trees, may at some point also affect the same operation.
No more, the displacement of our crews to do operation and maintenance activities.
They can also be affected precisely because the rain tracks can also present landslides
that can affect the same displacement of our workers in order to carry out their
normal operation and maintenance activities. In your presence, the experts are very important
because they help us to do pedagogy and I would like to take advantage of
your meeting with us to give us some recommendations on the subject of rains,
energy and the environment. When we look, we are somehow generating awareness.
When we talk about consciousness, it is awareness about the use of natural resources.
This always makes us think about making a very good use of the water
resource, always looking for efficiency, using what we really need, not wasting.
And this same would apply for all that is electric energy, for the
energy resource. In this case, as well as we are taking care of
the water, let' s say optimizing its consumption, using it only when
we need it. In the case of energy, it applies the same thing
also goes a little bit to the same technology. How we can use bulbs,
energy saving appliances, how we can disconnect at a certain time also appliances
that we are using, and this same would apply to any natural resource.
Always be very aware that somehow we depend on these natural resources for our future,
for the sustainability of the planet, and that makes us very aware of
their proper management. Small things that we can do from home and that can
help a lot, not only to the energy issue, but to the environment
as such, because saving water in some way useful, minimizing consumption in the
case of appliances, searching and having low consumption appliances, replacing old appliances that
can usually have very high consumptions by others much more modern, disconnecting those appliances
that we are not using. In the case of buildings, make a proper
maintenance of the inspection boxes so that when rain events occur we cannot have in
any way not have problems in all our electrical infrastructure. Global warming is not
a foreign issue to Colombian households, and that must be taken into account.
We thank you for accepting this invitation from the RCN Radio Eco podcast, for
telling us how much is being done from it, considering that they are an
important generator of energy in the national territory and also highlighting that in your homes,
our viewers can also do much to save not only water and energy,
but also to take care of the environment and prevent global warming from continuing at
such an accelerated pace. We hear each other later Chacho Eco Podcast, because
the environment is a theme of all