Author: Ana Filipa Santos

The RELOP Activities Plan 2025 outlines RELOP’s actions for this year, aligned with its strategic plan for 2022–2025, which was presented at a particularly challenging period, in a global context of major challenges, such as decarbonisation, but also of great instability of multifaceted origins with global public health challenges, regional conflicts and high energy prices, with profound consequences for all sectors of the society.

The Activities Plan 2025 focuses on the continuous strengthening of our Association, both internally and in its external projection and co-operation.

As the previous Plans, it is organized in three pillars:

• Internal activities
• External activities
• Communication

The Activities Plan for 2025 is the most ambitious ever presented, with a total of 20 activities, including trainings, organisation and participation in both online and presential events, collaboration with entities such as ALSF, ARIAE and ICER, among others.

This document also reflects RELOP’s commitment to the CPLP, actively participating in the organisation of the Energy and Climate Seminars and the 2nd CPLP Energy Conference.ergia e Clima e da II Conferência de Energia da CPLP.

Applications for the 2025 Maria Cristina Portugal Award
are now open!

The 2025 edition of the Maria Cristina Portugal Award (PMCP), promoted by RELOP, seeks to honor the best technical article dedicated to “Energy Sustainability.” The goal is to recognize and reward scientific texts or articles authored by professionals from RELOP member organizations.

Objectives of the Award

The competition aims to stimulate the production, dissemination, and recognition of scientific literature in Portuguese, relevant to the sector. It also seeks to strengthen the exchange of knowledge and innovative practices among professionals.

Eligibility Criteria

Language: The texts must be written in Portuguese.

Therefore, to know more information consult this article in portuguese.

The 20th RELOP General Assembly, held on November 8, 2024 in Foz do Iguaçu, approved for the first time changes to the RELOP Statutes, which are now in force.

In addition to its members, RELOP is now open to “Associates” and “Observers.” Candidates for these categories are as follows:

• Associates: Independent entities with regulatory functions and competencies in the energy sector, operating at a regional or local level, with a preferably general or specific focus, originating from countries or regions where Portuguese is the official language.
• Observers: Public entities with functions and competencies in the energy sector, also originating from countries or regions with Portuguese as the official language.

Interested parties may express their interest through RELOP’s Secretariat, and their applications will be submitted to the General Assembly for consideration.

Associates and observers can participate in RELOP activities, propose actions to RELOP’s governing bodies, request bilateral meetings with the Council of Presidents to discuss relevant issues, initiatives, or projects, and attend General Assembly meetings, although without voting rights.

Visit our website and social media channels to learn more about RELOP’s activities.

2024 was a year of great achievements for RELOP, marking significant advances in regulation and the promotion of the energy transition.

Together, we promoted training sessions – face-to-face and online; debate sessions and public events.

We deepened our relationship with other organisations by participating in ICER and organising our Annual Conference together with ARIAE.

Within the framework of the CPLP Thematic Commission on Energy, RELOP co-organised 3 Seminars and took part in the launch of the 2nd CPLP Energy Conference.

As we prepare for the challenges of 2025, take a look back at the best moments of 2024:

May the new year be full of opportunities, achievements and unforgettable moments for us all!

Collaboration between international regulators is essential to implement concrete actions that guarantee independence, transparency, legal certainty and predictability. These actions are crucial to protecting the interests of consumers and increasing the sector’s attractiveness for investment, ensuring a more secure and sustainable energy future.

The 1st ARIAE-RELOP International Conference, held on 6 November 2024, brought together more than a hundred energy experts from various RELOP and ARIAE member countries who addressed three major themes that are essential for the global energy future: the regulatory challenges of the energy transition, the role of regulation in extraordinary events and the impacts of the energy transition and extreme events on tariffs and prices in the electricity market.

This meeting resulted in the Iguazu Declaration, signed by the two associations and which defends the role of regulators as guardians of the public interest and promoters of regulatory developments.

In the context of the 1st Joint International Conference of ARIAE and RELOP, which will take place in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, on November 6th, the Working Groups of RELOP are organizing other activities that will also be held at the Itaipu Binacional facilities.

The Energy Transition Working Group (GTE) and the Oil, Gas, Derivatives, and Biofuels Working Group (GT-PGB) are preparing thematic workshops to present the activities developed over the past year. The GTE will address the topic “Best Regulatory Practices for Energy Transition,” based on a survey conducted in 2024, which gathered information on energy transition incentive measures adopted by RELOP regulators in four countries. The GT-PGB, on the other hand, will focus its workshop on the topic “ESG in Oil & Gas Activities” highlighting the case of Angola and its experience with carbon markets and ESG practices in the Oil & Gas sector.

Additionally, the Communication Working Group (GTC) will be responsible for all media coverage of RELOP events in Foz do Iguaçu, producing content before, during, and after the events.

Follow the events on RELOP’s social media:

Facebook, LinkedIn e YouTube

In October, a workshop will be held to debate the mechanisms of energy generation and transmission auctions.

On Thursday (19/9), the RELOP Energy Transition working group, coordinated by ANEEL, organised the 7th workshop on fostering the innovation ecosystem through regulation. Focussing on the process of transforming the energy matrix towards a low-carbon economy, initiatives from ANEEL and Brazil’s National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) were presented.

During the opening of the workshop, ANEEL’s Secretary for Innovation and Energy Transition, Paulo Luciano, emphasised the importance of Relop members participating in the search for innovations for each country’s electricity sector.

‘In Brazil, a public policy for investment, research and development in innovation was instituted more than 20 years ago and it was up to the regulatory agencies to implement and regulate these investments. In the case of ANEEL, we’ve already had more than 2,000 projects carried out, and around 25 per cent of the funds from these projects have been invested in renewable energy sources,’ said the secretary.

Created last year, the working group holds monthly workshops on topics related to the energy transition. More than 50 people took part in the training, including experts from Brazil and other Relop member countries, to discuss ways of achieving greenhouse gas emission neutrality targets by 2050.

Technicians from the Agency explained the functioning of public policies for investment in research, development and innovation in the Brazilian electricity sector, with an emphasis on the technical call for hydrogen.

At ANEEL’s invitation, ANP representatives presented initiatives from the research, development and innovation programmes in Brazil’s oil, gas and biofuels sector, which aim to stimulate the adoption of new technologies.

According to data from the Energy Research Company , between 2013 and 2022 ANEEL and ANP were the public institutions that most invested in RD&I.

The Ibero-American Association of Energy Regulatory Authorities (ARIAE) and RELOP are organizing the 1st Joint International Conference of ARIAE and RELOP, which will focus on the theme “The Role of Regulation in the Current Energy and Climate Landscape” The event will take place on November 6 at the Itaipu Binational Hydropower Plant in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

Hosted by the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL) and Itaipu Binational, the conference will center on discussions about the energy transition towards a low-carbon economy and the numerous transformations expected across various regulated sectors.

The panels aim to address the need for regulatory improvements that align with the contemporary economic landscape, covering topics such as:

• Energy markets in the context of economic decarbonization;
• Regulatory challenges involved in the energy transition;
• The importance of resilience in electrical systems and the available technologies for their improvement;
• Enhancement and modernization of tariff regulation.

In addition, workshops organized by RELOP Working Groups will be held on November 7 at the Itaipu facilities, followed by the XX RELOP General Assembly on November 8.

A RELOP e a Associação Ibero-Americana de Entidades Reguladoras da Energia (ARIAE) estão a organizar a I Conferência Internacional Conjunta da ARIAE e da RELOP, que será dedicada ao tema “O papel da regulação no atual panorama energético e climático”, que irá decorrer no dia 6 de novembro, nas instalações da Usina Hidrelétrica de Itaipu Binacional, em Foz do Iguaçu, Brasil.

A Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL) e Itaipu Binacional são as anfitriãs do evento, que terá como foco refletir sobre a transição energética para uma economia de baixo carbono e as muitas transformações que se irão observar nos vários setores regulados.

Os painéis visam trazer para o debate a necessidade de aprimoramentos regulatórios que dialoguem com o cenário econômico contemporâneo, abordando temas como:

• os mercados de energia no contexto de descarbonização das economias;
• os desafios regulatórios inseridos na transição energética;
• a importância da resiliência dos sistemas energéticos e as tecnologias disponíveis para sua melhoria;
• aprimoramento e modernização da regulação tarifária.

No contexto desse evento, decorrerão também nas instalações de Itaipu workshops promovidos pelos Grupos de Trabalho da RELOP, no dia 7 de novembro, e a XX Assembleia Geral da RELOP, no dia 8 de novembro.

Mais informação: https://www.gov.br/aneel/pt-br/assuntos/eventos/eventos-vigentes/1a-conferencia-internacional-conjunta-ariae-relop

Os membros da RELOP não necessitam realizar esta inscrição.