Towards renewable energy in El Salvador: an outline of the legal, institutional, and social path

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the regulatory and institutional changes and their implications for social practice in the energy sector in El Salvador since the period following the signing of the 1992 Peace Accords, when the country began a process of infrastructure and social reconstruction. During this transition, legal, institutional, and social changes have taken place.  In particular, we focus on the most recent five-year period, when the El Salvador Energy Policy 2020-2050 was approved. The method used to prepare this article was documentary research; to this end, information contained in written and digital documentary sources was selected, compiled, analyzed, and interpreted in order to construct orderly, objective knowledge and results on the energy issue in El Salvador. It is concluded that within the current development model being constructed in El Salvador, the energy transition is key.  Therefore, the synchronization of the legal dimension, which allows for the regulation of the sector, provides legal certainty and incentives; together with the institutional dimension, which strengthens the capacity for planning, regulation, and state control; will enable compliance with the social dimension where the people who are to benefit from this development model are located.