Energy sovereignty

The first source of energy fire and the ability to dominate it were used It dates back to about 500,000 years ago and was the main source of energy until the steam engine appeared in the 18th century.

As technology improved, burning coal became cheaper, access to oil much more available, the use of nuclear energy safer, and some renewable energies such as wind, photovoltaic or hydraulic Finally, they are more cost-effective. There are new energies promising revolutions such as green hydrogen, geothermal energy, tidal energy or nuclear fusion.

An agreement was signed in 2015 Paris to limit the rise of global warming to 1.5 °C compared to pre-industrial levels. We must talk about a forgotten problem in Panama that is the basis of our development: energy sovereignty.

Security and defense policy is one of the pillars of a modern state. Energy sovereignty is defined as the supreme and unlimited power of the people to make political decisions about electricity for their own economic and social development since Panama has a monopoly legitimate use of force. In our energy sovereignty, no private entity or state can impose on Panama how we should handle our electricity and how we should organize ourselves every time our electricity comes on.

If you analyze growth of Panama’s gross domestic product (GDP)Under augmentative simplicity, one would conclude that electricity demand would be in proportions similar to GDP; but the only thing we had was “laissez faire”: a static relationship between rising electricity demand and bad social consequences. Social consequences of higher costs for consumers, lower regional competitiveness and taking more land for hydroelectric dams. The demand for energy is growing faster than the supplementary supply of new energy and its storage. The nuclear power plant reactor produces 1000MW and the Panamanians seem to be subsidizing the uranium.

Panama lives in peace without major military threats, but no we have energy autonomy. Our country could be more affected by the energy deficit than by the potential threat of the neighboring army. Relying on South American electricity from the Asian capital should also not be within our means for obvious reasons: the Interoceanic Canal with the DeConcini Amendment in place.

In the Anthropocene, conflicts over energy sources will be very intense. Tensions between traditional energy sources and green technologies will increase, and energy and food will be used as geopolitical weapons. Almost all countries will be able to develop cyber wars and can collapse the functioning of other societies, depriving them of electricity, immobilizing data systems that They enable the operation of transport, hospitals, public and private administrations, industrial production and private communications of citizens.

We left him in your hands donors, representatives, bearers of our economic and social development. The absence of the Panamanian state in energy planning creates the greatest dependency and vulnerability for the country’s development. It is of national interest to ensure energy supply, and commercial ethics that privatize profits and transfer problems to the public sector are unacceptable. The difficulty with a hybrid public-private system is that some blame others for service deficiencies.

We need more access modern and strategic to continue developing our global comparative advantageso that we can compete and make the most of our privileged geography: In the same way that the national government agreed with Pfizer to directly purchase the vaccine against covid, the Panamanian state must directly and autonomously develop the creation of electricity generators for our energy sovereignty in order to honor the commitments undertaken by Panama at the High Level Energy Dialogue, New York 2021.