glOBal Wind energy OuTlOOk 2010 - Global Wind Energy Council

R e g i o n a l s c e n a r i o r e s u l T S
Latin America
Latin America, a region of great cultural and economic diversity,
has some of the world’s best wind resources. Home to
many growing economies with increasing electricity demand,
plus a broad commitment to environmental protection, this
part of the world is considered prime territory for the deployment
of wind power. 1
Gujarat wind farm, Kutch, India
© Wind Power Works
In this scenario, €3.7 billion would be invested in Indian wind
development every year by 2020, representing a quadrupling
of 2009 investment figures. Employment in the sector
would grow from the currently estimated 21,400 jobs to over
84,000 by 2020 and 113,000 ten years later.
Yet the GWEO Advanced scenario shows that the wind development
in India could go much further: By 2020 India could
have almost 75 GW of wind power in operation, supplying
183 TWh of electricity each year, while employing almost
150,000 people in the sector and saving almost 173.5 million
tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. Investment would by
then have reached a level of €7 billion per year.
As mentioned above, the IEA Reference scenario predicts that
by 2020, a total of 327 GW of power generation capacity will
be needed in India, which would imply an addition of 16 GW
per year. As the Advanced scenario shows, wind power could
be providing a significant proportion of this by 2020.
Beginnings have been modest to date. At the end of 2009,
only 1,072 MW of wind power capacity had been installed
across the entire region. 505 MW of this was installed during
2009, with new wind installations in six countries. There are
signs, however, that wind power is now finally reaching critical
mass in a number of Latin American markets, and that the
region is on the verge of developing a substantial wind power
industry to complement the region’s rich hydro and biomass
(and potentially solar) resources.
However, we have to bear in mind that Latin America is far
from being a homogeneous region. In fact, the continent’s
40+ countries and overseas territories are at vastly different
stages of economic development. There are a number of
emerging economies in the region whose per capita income
is similar to – or greater than – that of some new EU member
states; yet at the same time the region is still plagued with
extreme poverty and underdevelopment in some countries
and sub-national regions.
Brazil
Wind power is making the most progress in Brazil, the region’s
largest economy. This country has areas with tremendous
potential for wind energy, combined with a growing
electricity demand and solid industrial infrastructure.
With that level of momentum established in India’s wind
sector, the ten years between 2020 and 2030 would then
see spectacular growth, more than doubling the installed
capacity for wind power and taking it to over 160 GW under
the Advanced scenario. This would go even further towards
meeting India’s growing need for electric power. By 2030
wind power would be generating almost 400,000 GWh per
year and be avoiding the emission of 373 million tonnes of
CO2 each year.
Brazil has historically relied heavily on hydro power generation,
which until recently produced 80% of the country’s
electricity needs. As wind and hydro power work well
together within a power system, this combination forms an
ideal basis for large-scale wind power development.
After a few early developments in the first half of this decade,
the Brazilian wind market now seems to be taking off. In
2008, 94 MW were added, and another 264 MW in 2009,
1 Please note that Mexico is part of OECD North America, according to the IEA’s classification
which is used in this report for comparison purposes
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