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This past Monday afternoon, T and I attended a Chinese culture show at the Plaza de Armas here in Santiago. A big crowd watched this group dance and drum with the dragon. Little children jumped up and down, and older men screamed “otra! otra!” and just about everyone had their cell phone out to take photos or videos. I’ve never seen this kind of enthusiasm for this kind of show!
The dancers, both Chinese and Chilean, included employees of the Chinese Embassy here in Chile, and other members of the Chile-China business community.
“Venimos por una causa, la causa de la amistad entre China y Chile!”
said one of the speakers.
Next to the Plaza de Armas stood several shops filled with fake Louis Vuitton and Prada purses, which would have been right at home in the basement at Yashow in Beijing.
In other news on the China-Chile front, I spotted a BYD Taxi in the city center. BYD (which stands for Build Your Dream) is a Chinese car brand, famous worldwide because Warren Buffett has backed its efforts to build hybrids. This morning we did a non-scientific survey and noticed that the majority of the taxis are Nissans, with a handful of Toyotas, Hyundais, and Chevrolets. What does this say about Chile’s position in the world economy? Not sure.
If you’re at all interested in the emerging field of China – Latin America trade, I highly recommend this article from Business Insider, which is based on an interview with Eric Bethel, of Sino-Latin Capital:
… unsurprisingly, he’s got fascinating stories.
Such as how foreign businesses get into trouble in Ecuador because they often don’t realize they need to check to make sure their purchased mine isn’t in a drug-trafficking corridor (drug lords are known to hire protestors to picket sites). Or how most Peruvians have no idea that their traditional Peruvian corner restaurants, named chifas, are actually descendants of Chinese restaurants (chifa is from “chi fan”). Or how California-based environmental groups have become very effective at shutting down Chinese projects in places like Brazil. And so on. Eric has become the guy every Chinese company wants on their team when heading to Latin America.
I decided to delete this post. It’s not really my story to tell. I haphazardly cobbled together photos and ideas from other places, and for that I am very sorry.
Here is a pretty amazing New York Times slideshow showing photos of the protests.
More soon. Happy Monday to you!
Leslie
If you read my blog for the fun travel photos (you know who you are 
) please feel free to skip this rather nerdy post and go straight to My 7 Links.
If you’re interested in the laws that regulate and incentivize renewable and non-conventional energy in Chile, read on!
I’ve recently landed in Chile to work on a solar energy project, and one of my tasks is to learn about the legislation that guides this emerging industry. On March 20, 2008, President Michelle Bachelet signed Law 20.257 to encourage the development of renewable energy in Chile.
Photo of wind turbines in Coyhaique by Amanda Maxwell, Latin America Advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Amanda's blog ( http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/amaxwell/ ) is an incredible resource for anyone researching renewable energy in Latin America.
I translated the first page of the law from Spanish to English. The full text (in Spanish) is here: Ley_ERNC_LEY-20257.
Quick disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and it’s been almost six years since I took a Spanish class, and the following translation is based on my initial read of the law. However, I think that translating it has been a useful exercise, and I’d like to share it with anyone that’s interested. The indented boxes below are notes to explain some technical terms in the text.
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Introduction of Modifications to the General Law of Electrical Services, with Respect to the Generation of Electrical Energy from Sources of Energy that are Renewable and Non-Conventional
April 1, 2008
This law obligates the companies that generate electricity, with a capacity of more than 200 MW, to make sure that 10% of the energy sold comes from renewable and unconventional sources or from hydroelectric plants with less than 40,000 KW. This energy must be produced or procured, starting from January 1, 2010.
This law will apply to the generators that supply energy to the Sistema Interconectado Central (SIC) and the Sistema Interconectado del Norte Grande (SING).
“Power generation in Chile is organized around four grid systems: 1) Sistema Interconectado del Norte Grande (SING), the northern grid, which accounts for about 19% of national generation; 2) the Central Interconnected System (SIC), the central region’s grid, which accounts for 68.5% of national generation and serves 93% of Chile’s population; 3) the Aysén Grid in southern Chile (0.3% of total generation); and 4) the Magallanes Grid, also in southern Chile (0.8% of total generation).” (Source: Global Energy Network Institute)
Chile's SIC Electrical Grid. The SING is in Chile's northernmost regions, which are not shown on this map. Source: GENI
This law signals that the percentage required of the electricity companies will increase gradually: 5% from 2010-2014, then +0.5% each year stating in 2015, until it reaches 10% in 2024.
The generators that fail to comply with this obligation will have to pay a charge of 0.4 UTM per megawatt hour (MWh) that does not meet the standard, and this will increase to 0.6 UTM in the cases of companies that continually fail to comply with the requirement.
UTM stands for Unidad Tributaria Mensual. According to Wikipedia it is a unit used in Chile for taxes and fines, which is updated based on inflation. It was created on December 31, 1944. Initially it was used by the Chilean tax authorities for fines and payscales, but since then its use has been extended to the payment of fines, debts, customs duties, and more. A chart showing its value every month for every year on record is here.
It is further provided that such charges arising from the breach of a distribution intended to end users (of the distributors whose suppliers have complied with the requirement) will help to establish a system of incentives that encourages competition in the electricity market.
The law indicates that the label “renewable and non-conventional energy (ERNC)” will correspond to small hydroelectric centers (with a capacity of less than 20 MW), and to projects that utilize energy from biomass, hydraulics, geothermal, solar, wind, tidal, and others.
The law goes on to describe modifications to specific articles, and I decided against translating that part. The full text (in Spanish) is here: Ley_ERNC_LEY-20257.
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President Sebastian Piñera just nominated a new Minister of Energy, Fernando Echeverría. In his new role. Echeverría plans to double the production of energy in the next ten years to meet Chile’s skyrocketing energy demand, lower the costs of energy, and strongly increase the participation of ERNC in the electrical grid. Read more here in La Tercera.
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Excerpt from Obama to Piñera: Make Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency the Base Case Scenario for Building Chile’s Energy Future. By Doug Sims, NRDC. March 17, 2011.
The conventional thinking about energy in Chile is that new coal, gigantic dams and nuclear are the only possible base case scenario given expected increasing demand requirements over the next 20 years. This way of thinking pushes renewables, or “non-conventional renewable energy” (defined under Chilean law to include wind, solar, geothermal and other renewables but to exclude large dams over 20MW) to the margins – right now the goal for renewables is a pretty anemic 10% of annual generation by 2024.
But this is exactly the wrong way to think about Chile’s energy future given its world class renewable resources, its potential to reduce energy demand and intensity through efficiency measures and the declining cost curves and improving performance of renewable technologies, solar in particular. In addition to a solar resource that exceeds that of the American Southwest, Chile is particularly fortunate to have excellent geothermal and sustainable biomass resources. These non-conventional renewable energy technologies are mature and can provide cost effective power at reliability levels (known as “capacity factors”) comparable to coal, gas, hydro and nuclear.
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Useful resources for further research on Renewable Energy in Chile:
- Amanda Maxwell’s blog
- Chile Renovables
- Comisíon Nacional de Energía
- Energía en Chile
- Global Energy Network Institute
Hola! Saludos desde Chile!
Yesterday, our plane descended through the clouds…
… over the Andes…
… and we landed in Chile!
One of my stated purposes in Chile is to learn about cleantech here. This is the first evidence of cleantech I found, in the ladies’ room in the airport.
Not quite what I was expecting in terms of cleantech discussions. More on that later….
Rafael, our company’s Chilean partner, picked us up at the airport and delivered us to the home of Roberto Edwards, who is generously hosting us. Roberto Edwards is a famous art photographer and publisher, who recently has presented this Painted Bodies exhibit.
After a nap, Brent and I set out for a late lunch (Chile’s famous sandwiches) then joined a Start-Up Chile meetup at a bar called…
As if we already missed California! The Portuguese entrepreneurs behind schooooooooooools.com presented their platform to connect schools around the world, and we met some Chilean entrepreneurs.
Then, this morning, we strolled past the Universidad de Chile, where students are on strike…
… to Startup Chile orientation, where we joined entrepreneurs from all these countries…
… for an enthusiastic, clear, and energetic introduction to the program. This incredibly committed group of professionals is working so hard to empower entrepreneurs to change the world, and in the process build the entrepreneurial hub of Latin America, and an example for the rest of the world.
Compared with the last time I was in Chile (as a student for all of 2005) I’m absolutely amazed that almost everyone we’ve met has spoken English. I know this is not a representative sample of the Chilean population, but it’s definitely striking.
Words I’ve heard more times today than ever before in my life:
- “bootstrap”
- “platform”
- “… so we called the Minister of ____ and, basically, changed the law…”
So far, so good. We’ve truly been treated like royalty. Gracias por todo, Chile!
I ate this Chilean apple in the taxi on the way to the airport, as I left Beijing. It cost 7 RMB (slightly more than one dollar). It tasted decent — not amazingly crisp and juicy, but also not too mealy and gross. I probably should have peeled it.
This is just one of the fruits of this increasingly important bilateral relationship (pun intended).
Here is a good description of the recent developments in China-Chile relations, as summarized by Pacific Trek, a “a transpacific consulting, research, and training enterprise focused on establishing transpacific links between both East Asia and Latin America with strong networks in both regions.”
by Bernardita Gonzalez
In recent months there has been a tremendous increase in cooperation between Chile and China, which has emerged as a consequence of years of bilateral friendship and later partnership.
According to ECLAC, China and Latin America’s economic exchange grew more than 1000% between 2000 and 2010.
Chinese interest in Latin American markets is on the rise; Chile aims to become a platform from which china could access Latin America generally and the southern cone region specifically.
In November 2005, Chile became the first Latin American country to sign a Free Trade Agreement with China. Since then, China has become the first destination for Chilean exports, as of 2010.
Today, China is increasingly seen as one of the major world powers with the economic potential to overtake the United States in the next few years. This is the time to tighten the ties between the Chinese and the Chilean economies.
Recently, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited Chile in a gesture intended to increase cooperation between the two countries. Mr. Xi stated an expectation that “Strategic cooperation” between China and Chile in various areas would enhance trade and partnership.
Chile’s President Sebastian Piñera and Vice President Xi Jinping signed nine agreements in different areas, including banking and telecommunications, in order to increase specific agreements and cooperation. Chile’s state mining company Codelco signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China Minmetals Corp, which will boost cooperation in that area.
One of the most interesting announcements was a cooperation agreement between Banco Estado (Chile’s State Bank) and Development Bank of China.
Overall, this seems to be a good year for Chileans interested in investing in China and for Chinese entrepreneurs interested in broadening their market by opening branches in Chile and Latin America. The road is paved to increase and strengthen economic cooperation.
I first encountered evidence of China-Chile relations in an elevator in Shanghai in 2007:
After spotting this sign in the elevator, I did some research. ProChile, the government agency that focuses on export promotion, sponsored a campaign from 2005-2007 to introduce white-collar Chinese to Chile. I found a fascinating presentation from a company called BraiNet Communications, that showed the results of its research on how the Chinese viewed Chile. Here’s my favorite slide:
Apparently Chile seems more like like a “Mature Male, Mid-aged” than “an outspoken young man full of vitality.”
Call in the nation branding makeover team!? Or do you think a mature, middle-aged male of a country could make some reliably good wine, the kind you’d love to buy at one of those fancy downstairs-in-a-mall supermarkets in Beijing? Curious to hear what you think.
I'm Leslie and I connect entrepreneurs in Chile, China, California, and beyond — especially through translation, training, and trade. More about me.
