Latin America’s electricity sector has started to dissuade itself off its oil dependence. According to the Inter-American Bank, Latin America is expected to almost double its electricity output between 2015 and 2040 and will need an extra 1,500 terawatt hours (TWh) of power which is a huge sum enough to power the entire UK’s electricity grid for five years. Practically none of Latin America’s new large-scale power plants will be oil-fuelled, which opens up the field for different technologies.
Countries in Central American and the Caribbean, whom traditionally imported oil, were the first to move away from oil-based power plants, after suffering a decade of high and volatile prices at the start of the century. In some cases, such as the Dominican Republic, that meant a switch to coal, which represents 5% of Latin America and the Caribbean’s TPES. However, growing environmental objections mean that new coal plants are unlikely to be adopted by many Latin American countries in the future.