Wind power in Uruguay
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File:Sierra de los Caracoles wind farm.JPG
Wind power in Uruguay generates a rapidly growing proportion of the country's electricity mix.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/03/uruguay-makes-dramatic-shift-to-nearly-95-clean-energy |title=Uruguay makes dramatic shift to nearly 95% electricity from clean energy|work=The Guardian |date=3 December 2015}} In 2014, Uruguay installed the most wind power capacity per capita in the world.{{Cite journal |last=Thwaites |first=Joe |date=2016-03-07 |title=How Uruguay Became a Wind Power Powerhouse |url=https://www.wri.org/insights/how-uruguay-became-wind-power-powerhouse |language=en}} Overall, the majority of Uruguayan electricity generation is derived from hydroelectric sources.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/uruguay/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|language=en|access-date=3 October 2017}}
In 2016, the country's total installed wind power capacity surpassed 1,000 MW.{{Cite news|url=https://www.energynews.es/english/uruguay-reached-1000-mw-in-wind-power/|title=Uruguay has reached 1,000 MW in wind power - www.energynews.es|date=21 October 2016|work=www.energynews.es|access-date=3 October 2017|language=es-ES}} As of 2016, this figure comprised 17 percent of the country's overall electricity generation, marking a sudden increase in the overall share from the 2 percent of all alternative renewable energy sources made up in 2012. In July 2018 UTE, the country's power plants and transmission administrator, announced that record electricity demand was being met entirely by renewable sources, of which wind power comprised 34 percent.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/electricpower/utes-investment-plan-made-it-possible-to-cover-the-historical-consumption-peak-in-uruguay|title=UTE investments allow historic consumption peak to be covered - BNamericas|date=25 July 2018|work=BNamericas|access-date=2 December 2018|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-07/25/c_137347180.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725075800/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-07/25/c_137347180.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 July 2018|title=Uruguay's record power demand completely covered by renewable energies - Xinhua {{!}} English.news.cn|website=www.xinhuanet.com|access-date=2 December 2018}}
The national government has supported this nascent of fast-moving wind power transformation by providing a policy environment of incentives like feed-in tariffs and utility-scale bidding. The former helped incentivize small-scale installations, while the latter enabled large-scale projects.
Background
In 2008, the Uruguayan government set a target of 15% joint participation in the national electricity grid by a number of alternative renewable sources, namely biomass, wind power, and mini-hydro.{{Cite web|url=http://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/IRENA_RE_Latin_America_Policies_2015_Country_Uruguay.pdf|title=Renewable Energy Policy Brief: Uruguay|website=IRENA}} Wind power alone far surpassed that proportion in the several years following the setting of that goal. Electricity generation auctions, first put forward in 2006, have been a primary vehicle for larger-scale deployment of mini-hydro and wind power deployment over the past decade.
Some analysts have credited Uruguay's ability to leverage UNDP funding to create reliable policy frameworks that would eventually encourage greater stand-alone private investment in the sector.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/03/how-uruguay-became-wind-power-powerhouse|title=How Uruguay Became a Wind Power Powerhouse {{!}} World Resources Institute|website=www.wri.org|date=7 March 2016 |language=en|access-date=3 October 2017|last1=Thwaites |first1=Joe }}
Wind power in regional electricity trade
Its proximity to Argentina and Brazil make for relatively easy electricity trade between the countries, and in 2016 Uruguay began exporting excess wind power generation to neighboring Argentina. The two countries' state-operated utilities had previously sold electricity bilaterally, but the 2016 wind power sales marked the first Uruguayan-Argentine electricity trade between private companies.{{Cite web|url=https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1395152/uruguay-export-wind-energy-argentina|title=Uruguay to Export Wind Energy to Argentina|website=Wind Power Monthly|date=17 May 2016|access-date=27 February 2021}} Meanwhile, along the Uruguayan border with Brazil, wind power projects are being approached through a binational partnership with Brazilian utility Eletrobras.
Wind farms
File:Windmills in northern Uruguay 2.jpg
There are about 50 wind farms in Uruguay as of 2022, including:[http://www.thewindpower.net/country_windfarms_en_63_uruguay.php Uruguayan windfarms]
- Peralta wind farm (Tacuarembó Department)[http://www.peraltawind.com/web/en/peralta-i-ii-largest-wind-farm-uruguay Peralta Project]
- Sierra de los Caracoles (Maldonado Department){{cite web|url=http://www.produccionnacional.com.uy/sierra-de-los-caracoles-3/ |title=Siera de los Caracoles Wind Farm|access-date=17 December 2016|publisher=Producción Nacional}} {{in lang|es}}
- Libertad (San José Department)
- Valentines (Treinta y Tres Department){{cite web |url=http://www.elpais.com.uy/que-pasa/negocio-viento-energia-eolica-cambio.html |title=Wind is business|date=17 December 2016|publisher=EL PAIS }} {{in lang|es}}
See also
References
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External links
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- [http://www.energiaeolica.gub.uy/ Wind power in Uruguay] - official website
{{Wind power by country}}