How these three countries rapidly built up renewable energy | CBC News

Reducing fossil fuels and expanding renewable energy may seem like a slow and difficult transition in Canada, but there are countries around the world that provide examples of how it can be done and its benefits. See how Uruguay, Kenya and Pakistan built clean power capacity.

Oil, coal and gas still exist More than four-fifths of the world’s energy supply.

However, many countries are making progress in reducing their dependence on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are a major cause of climate change and are susceptible to supply and price shocks from global events such as war with Iran.

Jessica Isaacs, GRegional Impact Director, World Resources Institute (WRI) Polsky Energy Center; It states that this is happening in countries in different parts of the world.

“In many cases, the motive is energy security,” he said, adding that fossil fuels make countries’ economies vulnerable to events beyond their control.

Renewable energy, on the other hand, is “locally grown. Every country in the world has some amount of solar and wind power. Most countries have other resources like geothermal and hydropower that can really protect them from those supply shocks.”

I have already heard a lot about traveling to some European countries. Denmark, Netherlands and Norway. But here are some examples from other parts of the world that you may not have heard much about.

Uruguay

Until the 2000s, Uruguay relied on imported fossil fuels for electricity, but from 2001 to 2008, oil prices tripled, resulting in price and supply shocks that increased energy demand.

Ramon Méndez Garrain, a physicist who became the South American country’s energy minister, came up with a plan to transition the power grid to renewable energy and sell the idea to a skeptical public.

“We told people that even if they don’t believe climate change exists, this is their best option,” Gullane said. told the Guardian in 2023.. “It’s the cheapest and doesn’t depend on crazy fluctuations. [in oil prices]”

Uruguay already had hydroelectric power, but dozens of wind farms were installed and almost 40 percent In 2023, we reduced electricity and invested in biomass and solar.

“Currently, 90 to 99 percent of Uruguay’s electricity is renewable, and it comes from a combination of different sources: solar, wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal,” Isaacs said. “Uruguay has shown how quickly transition is possible when energy security is the goal in mind.”

kenya

In some countries, this transition is less of a transition and more of an increase in renewable energy. In 1995, only 5% of Kenyans had electricity. Currently, 76% of them do so, according to the International Energy Agency. We are on track to reach our goal of universal access by 2030.

Kenya’s goal is Achieve 100% renewable electricity Promote the green industry of the future by 2040.

By 2024, nearly 90 percent of electricity will already be generated from renewable sources, and together with hydro, wind, and solar power, nearly half of geothermal power will be renewable.

Isaacs said Kenya and neighboring Ethiopia, which are leaning toward hydropower, “demonstrate that clean, reliable electricity can support economic growth in developing countries.”

Much of it is grid energy, supplemented by distributed resources such as rooftops. Solar power reaching consumers People who are not connected to the grid.

Pakistan

Pakistan first started offering incentives for solar power in 2015, when it was a “negligible” part of the country’s energy mix, WRI reported. But it took a decade and several other motivations to create what WRI calls “one of the most rapid and unexpected transitions to clean energy.”

In 2022, the Ukraine war caused natural gas prices to rise, global fuel prices drove up electricity prices, governments cut subsidies for both electricity and diesel, and solar panel prices fell rapidly.

result? The share of electricity generated by solar power surged five times between December 2021 and December 2025. The Guardian newspaper reported: Based on data from energy think tank Ember.

WRI estimates that: This year, 20 percent of Pakistan’s electricity will come from solar power. – Most are small systems installed on the rooftops of homes and businesses.

Isaacs said distributed solar power has “completely cushioned Pakistan’s electricity sector from the effects of natural gas supply disruptions.” “Initial analysis shows that approximately $12 billion in oil and gas import costs have been avoided since the start of the Iran war.”

Even in high-income countries like the U.S. and Canada, she believes rooftop solar could be “very helpful in helping individual consumers weather electricity bill shocks,” as pressures such as power demand from data centers can push up electricity prices.

Isaacs said what made many of these countries successful was their ability to convince their citizens of the benefits of renewable energy for the climate, reliability and economy. “They had the political will to pursue it. They brought people on this journey.”