Inspenet, April 22, 2023
Electricity generation in Uruguay returned to being more than 90% renewable during 2022, according to data from the Preliminary Energy Balance of the Energy Directorate of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM) .
“In 2022, there was a lower consumption of fossil fuels as generation inputs and a higher consumption of hydraulic energy, which contributed to the increase in the participation of renewable sources in the electrical matrix. This resulted with a value of 91%. Meanwhile, electricity production was reduced by 8% and half of the previous year was exported,” says the MIEM report, which allows us to anticipate the data of the National Energy Balance (BEN) that is published in the middle of the year.
Likewise, in 2022, final electricity consumption grew 2% compared to the previous year, an expected increase taking into account that the growth of the economy was 4.9% in this last year and that the climatic conditions did not present extreme situations.
“Regarding the composition by source of electricity generation, in 2022 the generation of hydrological origin stands out, which corresponded to a 39% participation, followed in importance by electricity of wind origin[32%] and from biomass[17%] “adds the report.
And he adds: “For its part, electricity generated with fossil fuels and from solar energy had shares of 9% and 3%, respectively. (…) The reduction in the share of electricity of fossil origin stands out, given that in In 2021, its participation was 15%, which is partly explained by the exports made to Brazil in that year.”
Regarding the primary matrix, the participation of sources of fossil origin was 44%. In absolute value, the supply of fossil fuels grew 2% compared to 2021 and in percentage participation it increased 1%.
Participation of energy of fossil origin in the electrical matrix
The participation of energy of fossil origin in 2021 was the highest proportion in the electricity matrix since 2013, thanks to the structural and cultural change that took place in 2007, when this South American country opted for renewable energy sources and reached peaks of 98 % of total generation in 2019.
This edition of the preliminary balance also includes the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission factor of the National Interconnected System.
By the year 2022 it corresponded to 71 Gg (Gigagrams) of CO2 per GWh (Gigawatts per hour) of electricity generated and delivered to the grid. Although there was a 30% reduction compared to 2021, the generation of electricity from renewable sources remained at the highest levels in recent years.
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