Uruguay and Brazil agreed this week to jointly set up a 100MW wind farm in Uruguayan territory demanding an investment of 200 million dollars and which should become operational by 2013.
Uruguay won’t accept bids above 65 dollars a megawatt-hour from developers bidding to sell power from wind farms as concerns mount that rates have dropped too low.
Uruguay could enjoy 1.3 billion dollars of wind farms in the next four years after developers said they could provide electricity cheaper than conventional energy sources.
Uruguay’s state owned power company UTE moved closer to linking with Brazil’s Eletrobras for wind projects after its board gave the go-ahead to explore a partnership.
Uruguay intends to develop as many wind farms as its electricity grid can support, effectively diversifying its energy supply beyond hydropower and fossil fuels. At present, the country is in the process of installing 500MW of wind power projects.
A Spanish firm and two Argentine ones have been awarded tenders to build wind farms. Spanish Teyma and the Argentine Impsa and Fingano will invest around U$ 300 million in the project.
Uruguay facing a severe drought and insufficient rainfall began this week to receive electricity from the Argentine power grid. Uruguay’s electricity is mainly hydroelectric and in the country’s main dams the water level has been falling dramatically.