For a long time, progress with alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass was relatively slow in Latin America, so it is hardly surprising that many German renewable-energy companies focused their attention on other export regions. The situation is changing now, however, because countries like Brazil, Chile and Uruguay are stepping up their efforts to develop green energy. Wind energy especially is currently experiencing a boom in the region. Wind-rich Chile is a good example. The country on the Pacific coast aims to generate at least 5% of its electricity from renewables. Up until 2007, the only wind turbines to be found had a modest capacity of only 20 megawatts; now, 2,000-megawatt plants are planned or under construction.
Uruguay is currently even more ambitious. The Uruguayan government intends to cover half of the country’s primary energy consumption from renewable energy sources as early as 2015. With this objective, the country on the Rio de la Plata is taking on the role of pioneer in Latin America. In addition to promoting a number of both large and small biomass power plants fuelled by waste from forestry and agriculture, the state-owned energy utility and network operator UTE recently invited tenders for the construction of a plant with a capacity of 150 megawatts. Interest in this tender was enormous. More than 22 companies applied. German companies – Juwi Wind/Ferrostaal, Enercon, EnBW and SoWiTec – were among them. However, the contract for the construction of three wind farms went to Spanish and Argentine investors.
“Things are really happening here,” underlines Tobias Winter, commenting on Uruguay’s investment in renewable energy. The head of the German-Uruguayan Chamber of Industry and Commerce has no doubt that Uruguay is becoming a laboratory for the whole of Latin America. He is certain that “if we can rapidly forge ahead with expanding wind, solar and biomass energy, this will be a role model for many countries on the continent.” Winter already regards Uruguay with its centre Montevideo as the ideal base for businesses to expand their operations to the whole of the Latin American market. And this idea is being spurred on by the country’s rapid economic upswing.
Apart from the activities of foreign energy companies, Uruguayan energy policy is also focusing on small plants with a capacity of 150 kilowatts in its transition to renewable energy. The local energy policymakers believe this segment can cover a third of the nation’s demand for power in the not-too-distant future. In fact, the Uruguayan power utility has a legal obligation to purchase power from these small plants as a priority. Companies that invest in small plants can benefit from high tax concessions. Initial successes of this micro-generation strategy can already be seen in the cityscape of the Uruguayan capital Montevideo. Small wind turbines can be seen turning on several commercial buildings. The photovoltaics industry, too, is gradually gaining momentum. A good example is the installation of a system with a peak capacity of eight kilowatts on the roof of the Bayer building in Uruguay. “Our investment qualifies for tax credits of up to 57%, so the system will pay for itself very quickly,” says Mario Kaupmann, local head of the German chemical company. Many projects in the segment of small-scale hydropower are also raring to go.
In Brazil the topic of renewable energy is reaching a totally different dimension than in Uruguay. Here, statistics showed almost 1,000 megawatts of installed wind-energy capacity at the end of last year. About half of the turbines were made by the German company Enercon – the very first manufacturer to appear on the Brazilian market. Enercon launched a subsidiary here – Wobben Windpower – in 1996 that produces wind-energy equipment for the whole of Latin America. In the meantime, Enercon produces turbines with capacities of between 900 and 3,000 kilowatts at two Brazilian manufacturing sites. “Although the price dynamics in Brazil and other Latin American countries are not straightforward for us as a premium manufacturer,” says Nicholas Kraus, Enercon’s sales manager for Latin America, “we can win customers over with our quality, reliability and many years of experience in the market.”
It looks quite likely that German-Brazilian economic relations in the field of renewable energies will continue expanding in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics of 2016. Together with the COELBA utility in Salvador de Bahia and regulator ANEEL, the federal government has finalized the planning, financing and implementation of the first solar stadiums in Latin America. The renowned German architectural firm gmp – von Gerkan, Marg and Partners – is in charge of the construction of soccer stadiums for the World Cup in Brasilia and Belo Horizonte, each of which will be equipped with state-of-the-art solar roofs.
