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Abstract Modern society is aware of the importance of energy, as a fundamental resource for evolution, quality of life and sustainability. It thus dedicates important efforts to take advantage of existing energy sources. Countries have different and unique energy performances depending on the combination of resources, policies, and structures created to exploit them. Some are successful in their attempt to optimize their energy resources while others are not. This is the case of Venezuela, which faces a contradictory energy performance. Despite its substantial available renewable and non-renewable energy resources, it presents a severe energy crisis. This crisis manifests itself in frequent and extended energy blackouts and electricity services alterations, which affect all society. With the aim to propose some solutions, the authors make an attempt to identify the origin of the Venezuelan energy crisis, unexplainable in a country which two decades ago was an indisputable world energy leader. The authors evaluate the relationship among energy and sustainability, the renewable potential existing in Venezuela, as well as some new data and key insights regarding its energy framework. Special reference is made to infrastructure energy projects in Venezuela. The discussion leads to the identification of the structural problems that cause such a crisis and include some recommendations. The authors propose a thorough study of this case in order to consider it as an international reference and to avoid the repetition of similar cases in the future. Finally, an entirely new orientation of the Venezuelan energy framework and the strategies that include the revision of the current energy policies and the management of this sector are proposed. Such proposals are presented to help Venezuela in its transition to a new energy stage in which renewable energy, knowledge and sustainable criteria become the fundamental resources to address the country on its path to sustainability. Highlights • The energy imbalance in Venezuela and the effects on the population. • Lack of energy policy programs to introduce renewable energies. • Recommendations to implement renewable energy projects. • Need for an energy transition towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the development of biomass for electricity generation in Chile within the country's complex energy framework which is still unable to strengthen and encourage renewable energy development and relies heavily on fossil fuels, increasing the latent risk of suffering an energy crisis in the medium term, due to the slow incorporation of new energy power plants to meet the growing energy demand forecast. This article provides a background of the power generation status in Chile, along with an analysis of the country's electricity market and its regulations, focusing on non-conventional renewable energy (NCRE), ending with the description of the current development status of biomass for electricity generation in its three physical states, its features, applications, conversion processes, advantages and disadvantages. Chile presents a low proportion of renewable energy technologies within its energy mix, in which solid and gaseous biofuels are mainly used for low power energy generation, through cogeneration and biogas extraction and use, while liquid biofuels are under research through the development of pilot plants managed by several entities for industrial production and the transportation industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexico is undertaking a complete transformation of its energy sector. In December 2013, the Mexican Congress approved a series of constitutional amendments that intended to open the hydrocarbons and power sectors to private and foreign investment for the first time since the 1950s through profit- and production-sharing contracts and through new licenses for exploration and production. This energy reform was boosted by the decline in oil and gas exploration and production over the past 10 years, and the rise of electricity prices for both industrial and domestic consumers. Even though it is still soon to analyse the impact that the energy reform is having on Mexico׳s energy sector, this reform is likely to have a profound impact on long-term oil and gas production in Mexico, as well as on its power sector. In this sense, in relation with the changes that the Mexican energy reform entails both in the hydrocarbons and power sector, two competing visions of advocates and opponents have arisen since its approval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regardless of the rapid development of national gas centers around the world, oil price indexation remains the prevailing pricing process in Continental Europe and the Far East. The instance of Spain is a genuine case where gas supply conditions may, to some extent, clarify the slower pace of execution of a traded gas hub in the nation. This article seeks to explain the persistence of oil-indexed pricing mechanisms, a price model that differs oddly from that of other major commodities, the price of which is normally discovered on the market. In order to do that, we examine time-varying volatility to find that since 2013 until 2016, just about 33% of gradual volatility clustering rooted within oil Brent prices is reflected in Spanish gas prices. In this sense, our research provides quantitative tools to better understand that market-based approaches such as spot and medium-term supply alternatives seem to be a key driver for success in transforming gas markets. Regular updates on the size of the effects observed should facilitate an exact appraisal of the level of progression of national gas liberalization processes and enhance gas markets transparency, these issues of extraordinary importance for both policymakers and gas market agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]