ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE POWER SYSTEM: CASE STUDY FOR ARGENTINA, 1990-2010

摘要

The choice of electricity supply strategies normally has a strong impact on a country's energy situation; at the same time it can affect the physical and human environment in which the activities of the electric industry are carried out. As is the case with other economic activities, the decision process, particularly regarding the expansion of facilities, is influenced by a set of factors, among which institutional organization and regulation of the activity are of increasing importance. In fact, the leading role of the State in the provision of electricity in nearly all countries has obscured the importance of these aspects in the choice of supply strategy. Because of the evident worldwide tendency to restructure this industry, which involves a substantial change in the role of the State, it is advisable to revise analysis methods and instruments that help in decision making in the light of the new situation caused by the changes. For this reason, and in the context of the DECADES project, it was judged opportune to analyse the prospects of the Argentine electric system, whose organization has been drastically altered during this decade, along the lines of the reforms put into effect in the United Kingdom and encouraged by multilateral credit organizations, particularly the World Bank. The object of this case study is, therefore, to reflect the environmental and energy effects of the changes in electricity supply strategies made by new plant operators in comparison with the policies that were in force until the beginning of the 1990s and, at the same time, to analyse the relevance of the use of certain methods and instruments in decision making in the electric industry under the new organization.