February 20, 2014 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Latin America has become one of the hottest growth markets for wind energy. Globalization is driving sustainable economic growth in most Latin American countries, resulting in greater energy demand. Wind is increasingly viewed as a valuable and essential answer to increasing electricity generation across most markets in Latin America. Strong wind resources and sophisticated wind turbines are providing cost-effective generation competitive with fossil fuel generation. If most wind plants under construction with planned commissioning go online as scheduled, Navigant Research predicts annual wind power installations in Latin America will grow from nearly 2.2 GW in 2013 to 4.3 GW by 2022.

Credit: Herr Stahlhoefer/Wikimedia Commons

Wind power development in Brazil, in particular, is growing rapidly and will provide the bulk of Latin America's wind market in the coming years. By 2016, Brazil could see yearly installations top 1.5 gigawatts (GW) as the pipeline of contracted projects comes online and transmission is constructed to connect the plants, according to Navigant.

"Eight auction rounds since 2009 have awarded more than 8.5 GW of wind power contracts in Brazil, which secures a robust development cycle for at least the next five years," said Feng Zhao, research director with Navigant Research. "Brazil's Minister of Energy believes that the country can reach 10 GW of wind power installations by 2017 -- eight years ahead of the original plan."

The next-largest market for wind power in Latin America will be Mexico, which is expected to have nearly 9 GW of installed capacity by 2022, according to the report. At the beginning of 2013, wind capacity represented only 2.5 percent of the country's generation total, which is low for a country with a renewable energy target calling for 35 percent of the country's electricity to come from renewables by 2024.

Wind plant construction across Latin America is modest compared to more established markets like the United States, Europe, and China, but it is an emerging market that is taking off at a rapid pace, according to Navigant. The region has become the hottest alternative growth market for the wind energy industry at a time when growth rates in other markets are flat due to a variety of policy and macroeconomic challenges.

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