On March 13, 2024, Ministerial Resolution N° 104-2024-MINEM/DM was published in the Official Gazette El Peruano, whereby the administrative measures in which it corresponds to carry out Prior Consultation processes in the electricity subsector were approved.
It was known in the sector that the Ministry was working on a Ministerial Resolution that would replace Ministerial Resolution N° 209-2015-MEM/DM for the electricity subsector; however, it was expected that the new identification of the administrative measures would take into consideration the development stages of the electricity projects in order to avoid delays in their execution.
Unfortunately, the new Ministerial Resolution reiterates that it is during the procedure for granting the concession or electricity authorization that the appropriateness and, if applicable, the execution of the Prior Consultation process will be evaluated, and not the obtaining of the environmental management instrument, which would have avoided delays in the development of the projects.
On the other hand, the Ministerial Resolution generates an additional problem, not only because of the incorporation of the modification of such enabling titles as additional procedures to carry out the evaluation of the Prior Consultation, but also because it establishes that such evaluation and therefore the obtaining of the electric concession or authorization, is a requirement that must be complied with before the execution of the works of the electric projects.
Consequently, as from this Resolution, the electric concessions and authorizations are no longer only enabling titles for operation, becoming now also enabling titles necessary for the construction of the electric projects.
Until before the Ministerial Resolution, electricity projects -with more or less delays- were being executed and the concession or authorization was obtained in the final stage of construction. With this provision, such projects will clearly suffer significant delays, being the most exposed projects those related to electric transmission concessions.
Finally, the Resolution states that the Ministry will evaluate the situation of the projects being executed to date to see what actions will be taken, which means that the Resolution does not provide a solution to the uncertainty currently faced by the projects under execution.
For further information, please contact Veronica Sattler (vsattler@estudiorodrigo.com), Alejandro Manayalle (amanayalle@estudiorodrigo.com) and/or Margarett Matos (mmatos@estudiorodrigo.com).
