Greening Latin America

Long a renewables powerhouse thanks to its vast hydropower plants, Latin America is making a big push into wind and solar

While petróleo has long pulsed through the veins of Latin America's politics, economics and culture, it is renewables that are now quietly revolutionising the region's energy landscape. In September, Chilean power producer Colbun won the rights to erect a vast wind farm in a desolate stretch of the country's Atacama Desert. It will run out enough power to supply every home in Valparaíso, the nation's second city. The company will drop $1bn on the project, and with a capacity of 600 megawatts it will be the largest wind farm in Latin America. Meanwhile, in a quiet corner of northeast Brazil, the local unit of Italy's Enel Energy is building the Nova Linda solar array, which when finished will