Uruguay gets 99% of their NRG...

rambot said:

From renewables.

Yes they are small
But they are poor too. They prioritized spending to put themselves there. Well done folks....

Uruguay’s green power revolution: rapid shift to wind shows the world how it’s done


If they can....why not anyone?

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Excuses can be made for nations that used to be called Third World. (Forgive, me but I am up to date on what the current euphemism is.) The same is not the case for First World nations, who are - supposedly - advanced. While it is convenient to blame politcians for failing to implement laws and programs that are sufficiently robust, I point my finger at the electorate who stubbornly refuse to vote for the few individuals and parties who could make a difference. Unfortunately, those who see the need are outnumbered by the ill-informed, the selfish, the shortsighted and the stupid, the latter being the only category with a decent excuse.

Interesting article, but one paragraph stood out due to an incident with a wind turbine on the Warrego Highway a few months ago.

Outside cities, Uruguay’s roads are small, with few motorways. The parts of wind turbines are anything but small, and moving them into position a difficult undertaking. This was achieved by means of rolling roadblocks and convoys to create minimum disruption when new windfarm projects were built.

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The Warrego Highway runs from Brisbane to Charleville, but the section from Brisbane to Toowoomba can be very busy, with anywhere between 25 and 40 thousand vehicles daily.

This got me wondering if there are other nations with 100% or close to for renewable energy. There are a several as the following link demonstrates.

The first part of the article gives total renewable power, the second part is the national percentage provided by renewable sources.


China generates the greatest total followed by the USA, 2894 TWh and 965 TWh respectively. Compare this to Uruguay's total generation of 12 TWh.

But they drop to 31% and 22% respectively as a percentage of their total energy requirements, placed 101 and 119 in global ranking..

Most of the nations which have 100% renewable energy or near to it seem to have significant water reserves for hydroelectric generation.

My own country Australia is water poor, with our national average about 420mm per year, and that's unevenly spread. Tully in North Queensland averages over 4 metres of rain a year, whereas Alice Springs gets around 290mm (a bit less than a foot). We're the second driest continent after Antarctica, with about 70% considered arid or semi-arid, and 18% desert.

The smallest island state Tasmania generates all its power from hydroelectricity, but overall only 6% of the national consumption is hydroelectric.

Solar provides 16% and wind 12%. They'll both go up but it will take time. We've got the disadvantage of a big country with long power lines, and not a big population to pay for it.

Uruguay has a small population but they are also a small country, only about 2.6 times the size of our smallest state so they have some advantages.