Tarificación de la Transmisión Eléctrica: por qué licitar es (mucho) mejor que regular

There are at least two ways of fixing high voltage transmission tolls. One is to regulate them in standard fashion; another is to allocate new transmission lines in competitive auctions to the bidder offering the lowest toll. In this paper we show that expected tolls are considerably lower if lines are auctioned. Auctions dominate regulation for three reasons. First, bidder competition ensures lower expected tolls. Second, they increase the regulator's bargaining power. Third, if, as in Argentina, project users are allowed to bid and build the line, they can induce even more intense competition. We use our theoretical model to analyze the auction for the fourth Comahue line in Argentina. We show that, had the toll been regulated, it would have been at least 61% higher.comahue, contrato COM, GEEAC, licitaciones, transener, transmisión

Transmisión eléctrica y la “ley corta”: por qué licitar es (mucho) mejor que regular (Electricity transmission and the short law: why offering for tender is [much] better than regulation)

Existen a lo menos dos procedimientos para fijar los peajes que deben pagar los usuarios de líneas de transmisión. Uno consiste en regularlos en un proceso estándar. El otro, adjudicar las líneas en licitaciones competitivas por menor peaje. En este trabajo mostramos que los peajes esperados son inambiguamente menores si las líneas se licitan. Las licitaciones dominan a la regulación por tres razones: primero, la competencia garantiza peajes esperados más bajos; segundo, la licitación aumenta el poder de negociación del regulador; tercero, si como en Argentina, se permite que los beneficiarios del proyecto de transmisión participen en la licitación, éstos pueden inducir una competencia aún más intensa. Usamos nuestro modelo para analizar la licitación de la cuarta línea del Comahue en Argentina. Mostramos que, de haberse regulado, el peaje hubiera sido a lo menos 61% más alto. La versión de la ley corta actualmente en el Congreso mejora sustantivamente el proyecto original de mayo de 2002 porque adopta la licitación por menor canon para expansiones del sistema. Sin embargo, no lo adopta para ampliaciones de instalaciones existentes. Si se persiste en esta distinción, es conveniente limitar las ampliaciones únicamente a proyectos muy pequeños.

A lesson from Argentina: Setting transmission tolls in a competitive auction is much better than regulating them

There are at least two procedures for setting the tolls paid by power line users. One consists of regulating them in a standard process. The other, which is used in Argentina, involves auctioning the lines to the lowest toll. In this paper we show that an auction yields higher expected social welfare if n >= 2 bid. Expected social welfare is even higher if, as in Argentina, those who benefit from the line can also bid and build. Moreover, when the social welfare is utilitarian, an auction beats regulation even when the regulator can perfectly audit costs ex post. We describe and examine the auction of the fourth Comahue transmission line in Argentina. Assuming that the regulator's information about costs is similar to the information held by the industry, the model suggests that had tolls been regulated, they would have been at least 61% higher.

Gas y Electricidad: ¿qué hacer ahora? (Gas and electricity: What should we do now?)

La traída del gas natural argentino para generar energía eléctrica fue muy beneficiosa para Chile. Si se pierde el gas argentino —advierten los autores de este trabajo—, el costo de generación de electricidad, sólo en el SIC, aumentará en aproximadamente US$ 350 millones por año. Esta pérdida es grande: equivale a 0,5% del PGB o a la mitad del valor de los acuerdos comerciales que Chile firmó con los Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea.  ¿Por qué en Chile central una escasez de agua o de gas natural deviene en una crisis eléctrica? En este estudio se sostiene que la disponibilidad volátil de agua y de gas natural, por sequía o por corte, obligan a reducir el consumo en años de escasez extrema. Sin embargo, las situaciones de escasez no necesariamente deben terminar en crisis. Éstas ocurren —plantean los autores— porque el sistema de precios es inflexible. Para solucionar el problema se propone eliminar el límite de clientes libres, separar la comercialización de energía de su distribución y liberalizar los precios y las condiciones de contrato. Esta liberalización, se señala, permitiría seguir usando gas natural argentino sin que los cortes de suministro generen crisis de abastecimiento. Además, la liberalización no tendría por qué aumentar los precios sino que, por el contrario, la competencia debería provocar caídas de tarifas que en buena parte compensarían los costos de una hipotética pérdida completa del gas natural argentino.

Understanding hydrogelation processes through molecular dynamics

Molecular dynamics (MD) is currently one of the preferred techniques employed to understand hydrogelation processes for its ability to include large amounts of atoms in computational calculations, since substantial amounts of solvent molecules are involved in gel formation. MD studies have helped to rationalize experimental outcomes that in many occasions were not well understood based on experimental observations. Additionally, MD has been used to study changes in gel physical properties triggered by variations in reaction conditions or gelator structures. Changes in many physical properties were understood using MD, including molecular diffusion, hydrogel swelling and volume transitions. All the examples gathered in this review might help the reader to discover the current state of the art in MD studies carried out to study hydrogelation processes as well as the pioneering studies that paved the way to introduce MD in the field of gels.We thank the University of Regensburg, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (DI 1748/3-1) and Fondecyt Iniciacion (11160707) for financial support. D. D. D. thanks the DFG for the Heisenberg Professorship Award.Peer reviewe

The chaperone ClpC participates in sporulation, motility, biofilm, and toxin production of Clostridioides difficile

ABSTRACT: Objectives: Clostridioides difficile is a nosocomial pathogen that is associated with the use of antibiotics. One of the most worrying aspects of C. difficile infection is its ability to resist antimicrobial therapies, owing to spore formation. In several bacterial pathogens, proteases of the Clp family participate in phenotypes associated with persistence and virulence. This suggests that these proteins could be involved in virulence-related traits. In this study, we analysed the role of ClpC chaperone-protease of C. difficile in virulence-related traits by comparing the phenotypes of wild-type and mutant strains lacking the clpC gene (ΔclpC). Methods: We performed biofilm, motility, spore formation, and cytotoxicity assays. Results: Our results show significant differences between the wild-type and ΔclpC strains in all analysed parameters. Conclusions: Based on these findings, we conclude that clpC plays a role in the virulence properties of C. difficile