Assessment of Energy Sustainability Issues in the Andean Community: Additional Indicators and Their Interpretation

Tatiana Ponomarenko, Ekaterina Reshneva and Alexander Patricio Mosquera Urbano
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Tatiana Ponomarenko: Department of Economics, Organization and Management, The Faculty of Economics, Saint-Petersburg Mining University, St. Petersburg 21st Line V. O., 2, 199106 St. Petersburg, Russia
Ekaterina Reshneva: Department of Economics, Organization and Management, The Faculty of Economics, Saint-Petersburg Mining University, St. Petersburg 21st Line V. O., 2, 199106 St. Petersburg, Russia
Alexander Patricio Mosquera Urbano: Department of Economics, Organization and Management, The Faculty of Economics, Saint-Petersburg Mining University, St. Petersburg 21st Line V. O., 2, 199106 St. Petersburg, Russia

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-27

Abstract: To achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs), it is necessary to solve the problem of assessing and measuring energy sustainability performance. A popular indicator used for this purpose is the World Energy Council (WEC) energy sustainability index, or the Energy Trilemma Index, which is based on such key metrics as energy security, energy equity, environmental sustainability, and country context. Each of the four metrics, or dimensions, includes many indicators that depend on both internal and external factors. By combining a variety of indicators into integral ones, WEC ranks countries in terms of energy sustainability. However, what is not taken into account is how countries differ in terms of economic development, income, energy mix, renewables use, ownership in the energy sector, and other factors, and neither is the methodology itself disclosed by the developers. As a provider for all other sectors of the economy, the energy sector plays an important role in developing countries. Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, being members of the Andean Community, are neighbors and have similar economic conditions but lack transnational power grid interconnections, which hinders the development of a common energy market. In terms of energy sustainability, these countries’ ranks range from 45 to 101, according to the Energy Trilemma Index. The aim of the study is to develop a new methodology for assessing energy sustainability performance that will factor in the specific features of developing countries with a high share of hydroelectricity generation, and to calculate energy sustainability index indicators taking into account contemporary requirements for sustainable development, which include developing green and renewable energy and fostering decarbonization. This research reveals whether the countries’ energy sustainability indices correspond to their actual performance in energy development and identifies the factors influencing the values of the metrics in the Energy Trilemma Index. The methodology can be used to integrate the energy sectors of countries, as it allows for evaluating the state of the energy sector of several countries (for example, those of the Andean Community) as a whole.

Keywords: energy sector; Andean Community countries; Energy Trilemma Index; energy efficiency; environmental sustainability; energy equity; hydroelectric power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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