Brazil’s wind power portfolio has grown steadily, Chile and Colombia are seen as countries with great potential in Latin America. Latin America is expected to account for around 5% of additional capacity, behind China, North America, and Europe. The rollout of new wind capacity in Mexico, meanwhile, continued to slow down last year, and the country is no longer considered the second largest contributor in Latin America, falling behind Chile. Mexico added 473MW of new capacity in 2021, or 17% less than the previous year, when additions fell from 1,281MW in 2019 to 574MW. Mexico was also flagged by the report as one of the countries with the most stringent licensing barriers in the world, saying permitting periods for renewable projects can take over three years due to local opposition and slow approvals from conservation authorities.
Once the second most promising wind market in the Americas, Mexico has therefore decoupled itself from Brazil, where yearly additions soared to 3.8GW last year, and from Chile and the US, where additions have slowed somewhat in the last two years but have still seen steady growth. Argentina saw its additions fall from 1GW in 2020 to 669MW last year. A promising market for long-term growth in the region is Peru, which has 20.5GW of feasible onshore wind potential, according to GWEC, and where authorities are planning to conduct a new 2GW renewables auction this year. However, the group says Peru still lacks a clear policy vision to encourage sustained growth, including serious plans to adapt its transmission grid and establish precautionary measures to ensure it would remain stable under a strong wind and solar growth scenario. Another standout market is Colombia, where authorities have a broader plan to integrate renewables to make up for the risks to secure supply in a country that largely depends on hydroelectric generation at a time when rainfall is becoming less predictable.