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Uruguay excels in green power

May 1, 2024
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Why this is important to Wisconsin businesses: Wisconsin companies in the renewable energy industry could find a market for their products and services.

Uruguay is one of the most advanced countries in the world when it comes to the transformation to green power.

As much as 98% of the electricity generated in Uruguay now comes from renewable sources—a huge change over the past 15 years.

In 2007, as the South American country’s economy was growing, power generation couldn’t keep up. Energy was rationed and blackouts were beginning, according to a National Public Radio (NPR) article.

Uruguay imports oil, and by 2008, the price had jumped to a record high of $145 per barrel, according to the Guardian.

As the government searched for solutions, physicist Ramón Méndez Galain developed a plan to tap into one of the country’s resources: wind. His plan was to cover Uruguay’s uninhabited agricultural land with wind turbines, through a public-private partnership, NPR said. Private companies would finance the construction and the government-run utility would handle the power distribution.

In 2009, the government held its first auctions to attract wind companies. Today, Uruguay has more than 700 wind turbines installed across its countryside. As of 2022, wind generated more than 30% of the country’s electricity. Instead of buying oil from neighboring countries, Uruguay now sells its excess power to Brazil and Argentina, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration (ITA).

In a January 2024 report, the ITA said Uruguay is looking now to invest in green hydrogen production and to upgrade its power transmission grid. The country is offering several incentives aimed at expanding the use of renewable energy, such as importing electric vehicles to Uruguay, duty free.

Uruguay offers potential opportunities to Wisconsin companies with green power and energy storage products and technologies, as well as energy management systems for agritechnology and sustainable irrigation.

While Uruguay itself has a population of 3.5 million, as a member of Mercosur, a South American trade bloc, it could facilitate access to the nearly 300 million residents in the other member countries.

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