However, there are still many Latin American nations that
use highly-polluting fuel sources to produce their power, namely coal and oil.
In Central America, countries like Honduras produce 50 per cent of its
electricity from oil, while in neighboring Nicaragua it is topping 70 per cent.
The growing importance of renewables in the region was
recently illustrated by Brazil's energy and mining minister, Marcio Zimmermann.
Attending a summit on clean energy, hosted in Washington DC, USA, in which 24
nations participated - including China, Canada, Russia, India and Spain –he
revealed that 47 per cent of the electricity produced in the country currently
comes from renewable sources. Out of this 47 per cent, 14 per cent is derived
from wind farms.
A recent report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance
entitled ‘Latin American Clean Energy Market Outlook H1 2010’, analyzed in
great depth the investment in clean energy, particularly electricity derived
from wind farms, in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru.
According to Carlos Saint James, president of
the Argentine Renewable Energy Chamber, Argentina could become the ‘Saudi
Arabia of renewable energy.’ Saint James claims that the demand for clean
energy sources will supersede the demand for other more conventional energy
sources this century. Argentina is now the fifth largest producer of biodiesel,
behind Germany, the US, France and Brazil.
Argentinean law is also promoting the use of wind energy.
Buenos Aires is planning to build a wind farm with the capacity of 90 MW. This
project is part of Argentine's government’s three-year plan to generate 895 MW
from renewable energy.
Mexico is another Latin American country with a huge
potential when it comes to the construction and development of wind facilities.
The Aztec nation has already a number of wind farms in operation and several
projects under construction.
One of them is currently being built by Iberdrola
Ingenieria of Spain. The company recently obtained a EUR78.5m (US$101.4m)
grant from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance the
construction of the wind farm in the southwest of the country. It will comprise
121 wind turbines and generate 103 MW of power.
Acciona Energy, which is a subsidiary of Spain’s Acciona,
is also building a wind farm in the southern state of Oxaca. This facility is
expected to generate 900 GWh. The investment in this project is approximately
US$570m and is financed by Bancomext, Mexico’s state-owned bank and the
country’s development bank, Nafinsa, as well as European financial
institutions.
Mexico currently has the capacity to produce more than
10,000MW from renewable energy. The country has sufficient wind power
infrastructure to currently produce 500 MW and is home to the biggest wind farm
in Latin America. The Eurus wind facility, also located in Oxaca, has a
capacity of 250 MW.