Hydroelectric power, Mexico’s questionable green gamble
28 April 2022Argentina and Brasil could resurrect with their commodities
24 June 2022Source: Statista.com
Producing about 60% of its electricity from green sources, Latin America and the Caribbean is home to one of the cleanest power grids in the world. While wind and solar power have developed remarkably in recent years, hydropower continues to generate most of the electricity in the region.
In 2021, Paraguay’s entire electricity production came from water exploitation, as well as three-quarters of That of Costa Rica. Both countries lead the generation of green electricity in Latin America, as shown in this statista graph made with data from the environmental think tank Ember. Brazil is the fifth Latin American country that most bets on clean energy to produce electricity, with more than 81%, behind Uruguay (84%) and Ecuador (82%).
Even with the enormous development possibilities of renewable energies, some Latin American countries opt for the exploitation of natural gas to produce electricity. In Mexico, gas went from accounting for less than 20% of electricity production at the beginning of the century to more than half in 2021. Argentina, meanwhile, saw an increase of about ten percentage points in fossil fuel-based electricity in the same period, accounting for nearly 70% of the electricity generated last year.