With the wind power markets flatlining in the USA and Europe, Uruguay is set to become the next boom region for clean energy companies looking for new markets.  Uruguay could have as much as 850 megawatts of wind farms by 2015.

According to a Montevideo news source:

Companies including Spain’s Enerfin Sociedad de Energia SA offered to provide power for as low as 62.35 dollars a megawatt-hour, prompting the government to consider buying more wind power. Aeolic energy (wind power) is beating conventional power sources on price in head-to-head contests elsewhere in South America. Wind was the cheapest source of energy in a similar auction in Brazil last month.

About half of Uruguay’s energy needs are met by hydroelectricity; 40 percent by fossil fuels, and 10 percent by biomass.  If Uruguay can manage its energy portfolio well, look for the country to become even more attractive to investors--and become what some observers call the Switzerland of South America.

About The Author

Leon Kaye

Leon Kaye is the founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com and its advisory division, GGP Media. Contact him to discuss how he can work with your organization or event. His focus is making the business case for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). He writes for San Francisco-based Triple Pundit, Inhabitat and now The Guardian, for which he writes about corporate responsibility, water, and green building. He has also written for AIA's Architect Magazine. Leon works out of Fresno and Silicon Valley, California, and when he has free time, he enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking, weightlifting, and planning his next trip to one of the 60 countries he has visited. He has an MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business and is also a proud graduate of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) and Cal State-Fresno.