Evolution of Solar Energy in Chile: Residential Opportunities in Arica and Parinacota
, Patricia Vilca-Salinas 2,3, Edgar Estupiñan 2, Alejandro Zuñiga 4, Rodrigo Palma-Behnke 5 and Héctor Tapia-Caroca 3Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper presents an analysis of the evolution of regulatory energy policies in Chile in contrast with an economic evaluation of residential projects. They considered the city of Arica, which has the highest potential for solar energy but was observed to have low penetration of residential solar energy. They based analysis on tools like LEAP and SAM and made projections till 2050. The result is the identification of barriers and opportunities for that region. The paper is an important paper in the energy policy area. I have one concern about the analysis. Given the uncertainties associated with solar energy, cost, and the fact that they are projecting up to 2050, there is no mention of uncertainties. I want some discussion of uncertainties to be included in the revised manuscript.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
The authors appreciate your time spent reviewing our manuscript and the valuable comments submitted. We have carefully read your comments and suggestions for understanding the content of the text that we need to clarify or complete. We assure you that all comments were carefully considered by the authors. The revision of our work involved adjustments and further elaboration within the text, tables and some figures. In addition, all questions submitted by the reviewers were discussed, which we present numbered and indicated below.
We hope to have sufficiently improved the readability and quality of our research, and this thanks to their comments. We believe that the article proposal is now better after this revision process.
Yours sincerely,
The authors.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
- Please correct numbering the sections.
- Please correct numbering the tables.
- I would strongly suggest to add a nomenclature table to this article (important acronyms/abbreviations, units and laws discussed), so that especially all acronyms are explained.
- Please use "PV system" or "PV" instead of the Spanish term "sistema SF" or "SFV". Not everybody knows Spanish.
- Please consider the use of capital and small letters in the title of the article (solar Energy or Solar Energy)
- Fig. 1 Please correct "Hidraulic" with "Hydraulic" on the legend.
- Please change "CO2" for "CO2".
- Please change "on one hand" for "on the one hand"
- p.18, I would suggest to to substitute "side" with "hand" in expressions "on the one side" and on "on the other side".
- Please change "in first place ..and in second..' with "in the first place ... and in the second..."
- Please change "13% of total installed capacity" for "13% of the total installed capacity"
- Table 2. Please correct the following region names: Antofagasta, Valpariso, and Maule.
- p.13, Please change "16 client under study" for "16 clients under study"
- Fig 11, caption, Please change "of all client" with "of all clients"
- Fig. 12, caption, I would suggest to write "electric energy consumption" or "electricity consumption" instead of "electric consumption"
- Please reconsider the use of italics for "electricity consumed" on page 15.
- p. 16, Please change "kWhm2" for "kWh/m2"
- Table p. 16, Projected electricity demand...The content of the table is practically unreadable. would suggest e.g. dividing it into two tables?
- Fig. 13, This figure is poorly readable. Please check its source correctness in the caption. Ref. 19 isn't "SAAM, 2021". Ref. 20 is "SAM, 2021".
- Table 6 and Fig. 14 caption, Please give full name of "MAR" acronym - what does MAR stand for?
- Fig. 14, Please improve readability of some texts, e.g. by changing font colours.
- p.20, Please consider correctness of the phrase "by year 10.9"
- p. 20, Please use the following recommendations to write correctly the symbole for the american dollar: American dollar (symbol) (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau) - Search for entries starting with A - Writing Tips - TERMIUM Plus® - Translation Bureau (e.g. US$25.99 or USD 25.99 or 25,99 $ US).
- p. 21, Conclusions, Please change "we can gathered" for "we can gather"
- Please add space between words where necessary (in some places of the text such spaces are missing).
- I suggest to add then information in the Introduction section about the National Renewable Energy Labooratory's (NREL) System Advisor Model (SA) used in this study.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
The authors appreciate your time spent reviewing our manuscript and the valuable comments submitted. We have carefully read your comments and suggestions to understand the content in the text that we need to clarify or complete. We assure you; all comments were carefully considered by the authors. This revision of our work involved adjustments and further elaboration within the text, tables and some figures. Furthermore, all the questions submitted by the Reviewers were discussed, and we present them numbered and indicated below.
We hope to have improved the readability and quality of our research sufficiently, and this is thanks to your feedback. We believe that the proposal for the paper is now better after this review process.
Sincerely,
The Authors.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Introduction: Please add a paragraph describing the main contribution of the work and its comparison with similar topics around the topic.
Introduction: The organization of the paper needs to be added to the last part of the intorudction.
Methodology: I suggest adding a flowchart of the proposed methodology giving the steps toward the study.
Installed capacity of solar photovoltaic energy in the world and Chile.: Table 2 has a low quality and is given as a figure. Re-draw the table.
Installed capacity of solar photovoltaic energy in the world and Chile.: References for the cost of electricity and calculations are missing.
Case studies and projections: Elaborate on the projections and increase the quality of Table 3.
Case studies and projections: What about the power loss and costs of power electronic devices used in PV systems?
Conclusion: I suggest adding numerical results and main finding to this section.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
The authors appreciate your time spent reviewing our manuscript and the valuable comments submitted. We have carefully read your comments and suggestions to understand the content in the text that we need to clarify or complete. We assure you; all comments were carefully considered by the authors. This revision of our work involved adjustments and further elaboration within the text, tables and some figures. Furthermore, all the questions submitted by the Reviewers were discussed, and we present them numbered and indicated below.
We hope to have improved the readability and quality of our research sufficiently, and this is thanks to your feedback. We believe that the proposal for the paper is now better after this review process.
Sincerely,
The Authors.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
no comments
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
The authors appreciate your time spent reviewing our manuscript and the valuable comments submitted. We have carefully read your comments and suggestions to understand the content in the text that we need to clarify or complete. We assure you; all comments were carefully considered by the authors. This revision of our work involved adjustments and further elaboration within the text, tables and some figures. Furthermore, all the questions submitted by the Reviewers were discussed, and we present them numbered and indicated below.
We hope to have improved the readability and quality of our research sufficiently, and this is thanks to your feedback. We believe that the proposal for the paper is now better after this review process.
Sincerely,
The Authors.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
The quality of the paper is improved based on the recommendations of the reviewers. The current version of the paper is acceptable to me.
