The drivers of Latin America's wind power expansion

Latin America's wind power capacity is set to grow by more than 5GW annually over the next five years as a slew of new projects come online in Brazil, Chile and Colombia, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

Around 680GW of wind capacity is expected to be added globally between 2023 and 2027, of which 26.5GW will come from Latin America, GWEC said in a report published on Monday. 

"Despite pipeline growth having been interrupted by an unhelpful policy environment in Mexico and economic instability in Argentina, new Latin American installations of 5GW are … primarily driven by ongoing growth in Brazil and Chile, as well as the completion of long-awaited projects in Colombia," the report said. 

It added that Brazil, Colombia and Chile would account for 78% of regional wind capacity added over the period. 

The entity rated Brazil and Costa Rica as the best markets for wind investments in Latin America for their "strong installed capacity increase, new ambitious targets and/or policy improvements."

Next best were Colombia and Chile, which had "adequate targets and policies" that were "not matched by expected progress," GWEC said. 

Finally, Mexico, Peru Argentina were described as showing a "lack of progress and regression" as investors grapple with political and economic challenges.

The report dedicated a chapter to Brazil, highlighting the pro-renewables agenda of newly elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and rising interest in offshore projects. According to GWEC, developers have submitted plans for 170GW of offshore wind capacity with Brazilian licensing authority Ibama. 

"Having become Latin America’s undisputed wind energy market leader over the past decade, with more than 50% of the region’s installed wind capacity, Brazil confirmed its position in 2022," the report said. 

"The challenge for the future is to consolidate policies and establish a strong regulatory framework for offshore wind and green hydrogen in order to provide the appropriate conditions for industry to invest so that Brazil can lead the way to a just energy transition in the region," it added. 

The full report can be seen here.