In 2007, Uruguay had a massive problem with no obvious fix. The economy of this country of 3.5 million people was growing, but there wasn't enough energy to power all that growth.
Countries all over the world have announced lofty goals to reduce the emissions that cause climate change. But Uruguay actually did it. In a typical year, 98% of Uruguay's grid is powered by green energy. How did it get there? It involved a scientist, an innovative approach to infrastructure funding, and a whole lot of wind.
Méndez Galain had trained as a particle physicist."When you are trained as a scientist," he says,"you are trained to see an unsolved problem, and [to try] to find an explanation and a solution. So I used, if you wish, my scientific skills I had developed in order to face this difficulty with the same strategy."
Countries all over the world have spent the last decade announcing lofty goals to reduce the emissions that cause climate change. In the United States, President Biden has set a goal to reachMéndez Galain's plan was built around two simple facts about his country. First, while there wasn't a domestic supply of fossil fuels like coal or oil, there was a great deal of wind. Second, that wind blew over a country that was, to a great extent, composed of uninhabited agricultural land.
In 2009, Uruguay started holding auctions in which different wind companies from around the world came to bid on how cheaply they'd sell renewable energy to the country.