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Latin America and the Caribbean is at the forefront in renewable energy: in 2023, the region generated 62% of its electricity from them, more than double the world average, which barely reaches 30%, according to the fifth report Global Electricity Review from the data analysis group Ember, which worked with information from 80 countries that represent 92% of the electricity generated worldwide.
The basis of Latin America’s good position in terms of renewables, however, continues to be hydroelectric. As explained by Dave Jones, one of the authors of the report and director of the global Insights program at Ember In América Futura, 43% corresponds to hydroelectric, 8% to wind and 6% to solar energy. But this increase in wind and solar, which adds up to 14%, also represents 3% more than what there was in 2015. “What we found is that Latin America and the Caribbean basically maintained its position as a leader in renewable energies, always with the legacy that the hydroelectric plant has left him,” he clarifies. “But there is also a push for solar and wind.”
Although the report does not disaggregate the information by country, the data collected Ember and that correspond to state or government information, also gives clues as to how the region is not growing in parallel. While electricity based on air and the sun in countries such as Uruguay, Chile and Brazil has grown above the regional average, with 39%, 32% and 21%, respectively, there are others that, despite their advantages, remained in the queue. This is the case of Ecuador (0.7%), Colombia (1.4%), Guatemala (4.4%) and Peru (5.3%).
“In the report, we wanted to highlight how fast the transition is being in Chile and Brazil, because they have made a lot of progress in recent years,” says Jones. “In Brazil, specifically, we have found that, during the last decade, its demand for electricity has been increasing, but it has been guaranteed through renewables such as wind and solar.”
Brazil, the second country in the world where wind energy grows the most
Brazil became the second country, after China, with the largest increase in wind electricity during 2023, the year in which it reached 13%, well above the 3.7% it had for 2015. Furthermore, regarding the solar energy, the report also warns that it went from 0.01% to 7.3% between 2015 and 2023. “Brazil was one of the first countries to adopt wind and solar electricity in the region. After the 2001 electricity crisis, which saw droughts severely restrict the availability of hydroelectricity, the country introduced the Alternative Energy Sources Incentive Program (Proinfa) to promote other renewable sources such as wind and electricity. the solar one,” the document says. “This included auctions for wind and solar electricity projects that began in the mid-2000s and enabled fixed-price contracts and spurred investment and growth in the renewable energy sector.”
Chile, for its part, stands out as the country that had the largest share of solar generation in its electrical matrix, with a total of 20% – although the classification excludes countries that have less than 5 terawatt hours of solar electricity generation -. They are followed by Greece (19%), Hungary (18%) and the Netherlands (17%). Between 2015 and 2023, solar electricity in Chile came to represent only 1.9% of the electricity matrix to become, in 2023, 20% of the total.
For Jones, Latin America and the Caribbean has a clear advantage: the complement that solar is for hydroelectric plants. “When countries do not get the rain they expect, such as in times of drought, that is when solar electricity can be most useful. This is a kind of natural benefit, of flexibility, that other countries in the world do not have,” he says. The challenge, he adds, is in the policies. “When you compare what is happening with Mexico, which has not finished promoting solar energy to its best level, with what Brazil is doing, it is clear how important policies are to be able to allow this rapid construction of wind and solar energy.”
Mexico, according to the report, was the only G20 country with a large increase in emissions that contribute to climate change from the electricity sector. In addition, it is one of the four countries that accounted for 95% of the increase in coal-fired electricity generation during 2023, along with China, India and Vietnam. Mexico, like these countries, suffered repeated droughts, leading in parallel to a 42% drop in hydroelectric generation and an increase in coal generation.
The summary, at the regional level, is still good, although not sufficient. “In general, Latin America and the Caribbean has avoided falling into coal as has happened in other parts of the world, especially in Asia,” says Jones. Now the challenge is to ensure that, as electricity demand grows, the region’s matrices continue to grow hand in hand with renewables. Investing in them. “That would avoid a new dependency and increase in gas imports,” explains the expert, as if giving a clue as to what the next labyrinths are coming for Latin America and the Caribbean.
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