Bolivia triples its electricity generation

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivia tripled its electricity generation to strengthen its economy and consolidate the industrialization of natural resources such as lithium and iron, said the president of National Electricity Company (ENDE) Corporación, Marco Escobar.

ENDE’s president informed that the increase in electricity generation would strengthen the economy and consolidate the industrialization of natural resources such as lithium and iron.

“We have tripled our generation in recent years to turn Bolivia into an industrialized country, to make our economy strong at the South American level,” he told Patria Nueva.

He explained that, along these lines, the Plurinational State is seeking electrical interconnection with neighboring countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, and Chile. With the first two, there are significant advances.

“We are precisely aiming at an energy integration with these neighboring countries, and one of our projects is the “Juana Azurduy de Padilla” line, from Bolivia to Argentina, which we will soon inaugurate, to be able to export the first megawatts (to this market),” he highlighted.

He added that the goal is not only to generate surplus electricity for export but also to industrialize natural resources such as lithium in the salt flats of Potosí and Oruro, or iron, in Mutún, in the department of Santa Cruz.

Last week, the Vice Minister of Electricity and Alternative Energies, José María Romay, informed that in the previous 14 years, the generation of electric energy in Bolivia tripled, from 1,000 megawatts (MW) to about 3,500 MW; of which about 1,600 MW cover the national demand.

“We have a surplus of 1,400 megawatts that can be exported and used in the industrialization of lithium and mining with the region of Mutún. We can add cable transport, such as cable cars, the metropolitan train in Cochabamba, and electromobility,” he said.