Climate Breakthrough
Physics professor Ramón Méndez Galain, former Secretary of Energy of Uruguay
The catastrophe scenarios associated with climate change should be enough to push governments to abandon fossil fuels. But maybe they are success stories like Uruguay, where markets and the economy also win, showing the way.
Em 2008, Ramon Mendez Galain was a simple professor of Theoretical Physics, specialized in the study of the Big Bang, when the president of Uruguay, Tabare Vazquezsurprised him with a phone call inviting him to the position of Secretary of Energy of the country.
At the time, the Uruguayan economy was being strangled by rising prices of oil and gas. Vázquez, an oncologist who passed away in 2020, knew that it was necessary to transform the country, and he knew that Méndez Galain was the right person to do it.
Five years later, Uruguay had transformed into a power of green energy, with 98% of electricity from your power grid to come from renewable sources, says .
In the years in which Méndez Galain was primarily responsible for the country’s energy policy, in a period that spanned two governments, Uruguay installed dozens of renewable energy plants. In just 5 years after taking office, the country almost completely decarbonized its electrical grid: 98% of energy now comes from renewable sources.
A wind energy alone can produce up to 40% of the total electricity consumed in Uruguay in a year, notes The Washington Post.
One of the most important factors in Méndez Galain’s success was the fact that his strategy was supported by the entire Uruguayan political systemwhich meant that would not be reversed with the change of governmento.
With this consensus, it was possible toexert on the entire energy system of the country: infrastructure, regulation and market design.
Méndez Galain argues that, when the advantages are eliminated granted by governments to fossil fuels and whether renewables are allowed to compete on an equal footing, these can become the cheapest option.
E It’s not just about cutting subsidies to oil and gas. In Uruguay, it led a shift to “long-term capacity marketsgiving predictability to investors and utilities and eliminating the bias that favored fossil fuels”.
Other key element of strategy was Ramón Méndez Galain’s strategy was a simulation tool which he developed himself, which analyzed the stability of the network, the intermittency of wind and sun and how different technologies could work together. This tool helped spread the message and show that a different reality was possible.
Currently, Uruguay produces almost 99% of its electricity from renewable sources, and only a small fraction, around 1% to 3%, comes from flexible thermal power plantssuch as those powered by natural gas — which are only used when hydroelectric energy cannot fully cover periods when wind and sun are scarce, highlights .
The transformation led by Méndez Galain brought profound benefits to Uruguay on several fronts.
The economic impact was profound. The total cost of producing electricity decreased to cabout half than it would be with fossil alternatives and the country attracted 6 billion dollars in investments in renewable energy over a five-year period — equivalent to 12% of its GDP.
were created around 50 thousand new jobs in constructionengineering and operations, approximately 3% of the active population. Even more impressive: Uruguay is no longer subject to strong market fluctuations global fossil fuels. Since then, the country’s economy has grown between 6% and 8% per year and the rate of poverty fell from 30% to 8%.
Having accomplished his mission, Méndez Galain now runs a non-profit organization, which advises governments on how they can make similar transformations towards renewable energy.
Méndez Galain waits help 50 countries make the transition for renewables in the next ten years. “We want to prove that an energy transition can be possible in different geographies and work in different national energy and policy contexts,” Galain tells Forbes.
Os catastrophe scenarios associated with climate change should be enough to push governments to abandon fossil fuels and adopt renewables with all urgency. But maybe they are success stories such as Uruguay, where markets and the economy also gain which ultimately lead decision-makers to act with courage.
