00:00The South American country, Uruguay, has had one of the most successful transitions to green energy of many in the
00:06world.
00:0798% of the country's energy now comes from renewables, cutting power costs in half and protecting Uruguay from swings
00:15in commodity prices.
00:17Overall, the transition to renewable energy has created 50,000 jobs, a smart 3% of the entire workforce there.
00:25It's also driven the build-out of extensive energy infrastructure, bringing electricity to almost all Uruguayan households.
00:34Ramon Mendes Galen is a theoretical physicist and former energy secretary of Uruguay.
00:39He spearheaded the country's push into renewable energy, and he joins us now from the capital, Montevideo.
00:45It's great to have you on Global Business Group.
00:47Does this latest energy shock make energy security the defining issue now, do you think?
00:56Well, this is perhaps the most interesting point of my country, what happened in my country.
01:00You know, today in Uruguay, as almost all the electricity is produced using just local free, I mean, free energy
01:08like suns, wind, water, biomass waste.
01:12So we absolutely have no impact at all of what is happening, not only in this world, but in general,
01:20all kinds of geopolitical effects.
01:22So we have a stable price of electricity.
01:24We have no affordability, no security of supply.
01:29And this is perhaps one of the most interesting lessons learned for a global south country, that when we, yes,
01:36we can go to renewables today.
01:37This is possible.
01:38This is not only less costly, but what is almost more important is you have a tremendous stability for the
01:44whole economy,
01:45as you are not dependent on geopolitical events all over the world.
01:49OK, so the world is watching Uruguay very closely.
01:52But do you think what we're seeing is a lasting shift to renewables or just another reaction to crisis?
02:00No, no, no, I think we're in the middle of a process.
02:04And today there are still a lot of voices saying that it's not possible to go to renewables, that you
02:10cannot avoid fossil fuels used.
02:13But the reality is becoming more and more clear.
02:15It's not just about narratives or discourses or whatever we can claim all over the world.
02:20It's just reality.
02:21And reality is, yes, today renewables are not only the best option, not only are the best option, the most
02:26cheapest, the cheaper option.
02:28But it also is possible.
02:30I mean, it is here that it was not possible to manage the variability of wind and solar.
02:36In fact, yes, we can.
02:38And Uruguay is the example of that.
02:40And it was not a simple business, but it was not rocket science.
02:46Human engineering has succeeded to put a man in the moon 50 years ago, not just one week ago, but
02:5150 years ago.
02:52So, yes, it's possible using human engineering to deal with intermittency and to solve this problem.
02:59But you said yourself it's not a simple process.
03:02I mean, you led Uruguay's rapid transitions.
03:06What was it that made it possible to move so fast?
03:11Well, there was a couple of key ingredients.
03:15Perhaps the first one is that Uruguay really understood, the whole political system understood that the transition was just the
03:21best for our own interest.
03:23Once again, we are decreasing cars.
03:25We are becoming more independent.
03:27We are assuring energy supply for the whole population.
03:30We are creating jobs.
03:31So it was the best for us beyond just climate change.
03:34So we had a tremendous agreement between all political parties represented in the parliament.
03:41So it was a continuation of this policy during many governments.
03:45In my case, for example, I've been secretary of energy of two consecutive presidents that maintain in the office, trying
03:51to go beyond just one single administration.
03:55We are lacking in that.
03:56And this is something which is crucial.
03:58We have to understand that renewals today are the best option.
04:01And there shouldn't be political discussion in that.
04:05It's just thinking about what facts are.
04:08And this is the process we are in today all over the world, trying to understand that this is the
04:14new reality, that the economy is based on renewable energy, so it is possible.
04:21Thank you so much.
04:22Absolute pleasure talking to you, Ramon.
04:25It was my pleasure.
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