MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay's wind energy revolution highlighted in leading yearly report

Last September was of historical significance for Uruguay with 48.94% of the electricity demand met through wind energy.

Uruguay ranks second in the world among eolic-energy producing countries with a 40.1% share and is the only non-European nation in a top position, according to a report by the SEG Ingeniería consultancy firm.

SEG's data stems from the “2017 Wind Technologies Market Report” carried out annually by the US Department of Energy.

The study has already had 12 editions and aims to provide a general description of the developments and trends of the wind energy market in the world.

Of the 24 main countries analyzed to evaluate the wind penetration in the power generation matrix, “a clear presence of European countries is easily noticeable,” according to SEG, fifteen nations being from that continent, where wind energy was first exploited on a large scale which in turn led to the development of the wind turbine industry.

In 2017, wind penetration amounted to 5.2% of the world electric power matrix, and only four countries showed their wind generation energy below the world average: China, India, Japan and Mexico, while 20 countries were above that line.

China was the nation that increased its wind capacity the most last year, incorporating 19.7 gigawatt (GW).

If grouped by proportion there is a subgroup of 11 countries whose generation is less than 10%, made up of seven European nations, the United States, Canada, Australia and Brazil.

In the second subgroup, the one with the world's largest wind energy generation, there are eight European states alongside Uruguay.

Topping the list is Denmark with 47.8%; followed by Uruguay with 40.1% and Ireland with 31.1%.

Last September was of historical significance for Uruguay with 48.94% of the electricity demand met through wind energy.

Uruguay moved up in nine years from a 14.6 megawatts (MW) capacity to the 1,510 MW it currently has with over 600 wind turbines nationwide.