Traveling on Ruta 5 in Uruguay, the national road crosses the entire country. 500 kilometers from Montevideo to the Brazilian border - left and right of the road: fields, cows, few houses, but always: wind turbines.
Many of them belong to Fernando Schaich: "Here, on this map you can see what Uruguay used to look like, the individual red dots there," he says. "In 2010 there was a hydroelectric power plant here and there, a small, experimental wind turbine."
He jumps to 2026 on the virtual map - Uruguay looks like it has measles, red dots everywhere. Schaich and his company SEG Ingeniería alone operate 75 wind turbines, ten percent of the country's total.
Uruguay's electricity matrix today consists of 50 percent hydropower, 30 percent wind energy, 15 percent biomass and three percent solar energy. Schaich says: "Today's electricity mix is practically green - on average in recent years, the share of fossil fuels in electricity generation has been only two percent. And that is not just a question of sustainability, but of economic viability."
One man, one vision
In 2008, Uruguay was in the throes of an energy crisis: Extremely high prices coupled with a severe drought pushed the system to its limits and there were repeated power outages. That was the starting point for a rethink: Today, the country of 3.5 million inhabitants in South America has become a climate champion.
And this despite the fact that it had to make do without large financial reserves or high-tech infrastructure. He is the visionary behind the change: the physicist Ramón Mendez. "What was novel in the case of Uruguay - and this is absolutely transferable - is the way we imagine an energy transition," he says. "It's not about making small adjustments, you have to fundamentally transform the system."
He took over as National Energy Director. He managed to create a kind of New Deal that all parties agreed to. Between 2010 and 2020, the state and private players invested around seven billion US dollars in renewable energies.
Success also through long planning security
New regulations were drawn up, tax incentives were created, technicians traveled around the country giving lectures. Farmers and universities were included in the planning, and a total of 50,000 new jobs were created.
And one more thing: the demand was regulated by law for 20 years. This makes energy a stable cost factor, explains Mendez: "It is still said that renewable energies do not offer the security of supply of fossil fuels," says Mendez.
"But Uruguay - which was not affected by the current events on the Strait of Hormuz - is now far more reliable and energetically safer," he says. "How much does the lack of liquefied natural gas imports cost Germany? The costs are skyrocketing and ultimately hitting people's wallets."
High costs for electricity
So is everything good in Uruguay? Not that either: Despite the green electricity boom, prices for normal consumers have hardly fallen. A family of four pays an average of around $150 a month. Luis Andrade, for example, says: "We use as little electricity as possible because it is expensive. That won't change any time soon."
In addition, crude oil still has to be imported, especially for transport and industry. This accounts for around 35 percent of the entire energy mix. That's why phase two has now begun.
And this can be observed particularly well in a man. Enrique Carbonero keeps order in the garage of the Montevideo terminal - which bus is parked where is also marked by the oily black stains on the floor.
Carbonero says: "It all comes from diesel. Diesel engines sweat and drip; the combustion engine area is dirty and stinks. Over there, where the charging station for our e-buses is, everything is clean. It's important to us to make the difference visible."
The transition has been initiated
Montevideo, Uruguay's capital, is changing. Since 2021, the municipal transport company's fleet has only been expanded with electric buses; today every fourth bus is electrically operated. By 2040 it should be 100 percent.
There are also incentives for taxi drivers to switch. Almost 70 percent of all new cars in the last few months have been electric cars. Uber driver Hernan Goméz switched six months ago. He says he now saves $900 a month in unpaid gas costs. "At first I thought there was something wrong. But no, because I did the math - and the difference was huge."
Uruguay as a model of success for other countries?
It is still questionable whether Uruguay's approach will also work for other countries: the country has strong winds, lots of sun and is only sparsely populated, especially in the countryside. In addition, there is very little energy-intensive industry.
And there's something else that gives the father of Uruguay's green transition something to think about - politics that are based on dialogue are losing more and more ground, says Mendez. "Achieving something like this is becoming increasingly difficult around the world. Today, governments are changing and politics is changing radically. One side is accusing the other of being wrong about everything," he says.
And: “If we want to essentially re-establish the country every time there is a change of government, everyone will lose in the end.”
