Uruguay had a great 2024 in terms of energy, both in consumption and production -traditional and renewable sources-, mainly thanks to the comparison with a difficult year such as 2023, marked by the historic drought and its multiple effects; but some milestones stood out particularly: a record electricity demandwith a peak in winter, and the generation of renewable energies historical were some of them.
The report of Energy Indicators of SEG Engineering December highlighted the most important data that 2024 had: the first of them was the electrical demand record, which exceeded 12 TWh for the first time and had a growth of 3.9% compared to 2023. “This increase represents the largest increase since 2018 and consolidates a expansion trend which has been constant in recent years, except in specific periods,” the document indicated. In the last ten years, since 2014, the electricity demand in Uruguay grew 18%.
Within this data, the fact that the peak of consumption occurred in July, in the middle of winter, with a record monthly demand of 1,198 GWh, 18% higher than the previous monthly maximum in June 2022. The highest consumption occurred on Tuesday, July 9 — where the maximum was below 10°C — at 9:02 p.m. , when it reached 2,289 MW, exceeding the previous record of December 2022 by 2%. Likewise, during this day of maximum demand, the electricity generation It was completely renewable: the matrix was composed of 63% hydraulic input, 26% wind, 8% biomass and 3% solar.
“The return of peak demand to the winter months reflects not only the particularities of the weather over the last year, but also the impact of the consumption habits of the population, where the adoption of electric air conditioning equipment plays a central role both in summer and winter,” the report considered.
In relation to electrical consumption, and in return for the record demand, the spot price annual average of the electricity market in Uruguay was $10.9 per MWh, the lowest in the last five years and the second lowest in more than two decades. This decrease, driven by the end of the drought and the increase in renewable generation, represents a reduction of 88% compared to 2023 and 80% compared to the average of the last decade, as indicated by SEG Engineering.
Historical renewable generation
Another widely notable aspect of 2024 was that the electricity generation in Uruguay was 99.1% across renewable sources, the highest participation since 2016 and the second best record since 2004.
“This result is due to a greater extent to the significant growth of the generation hydraulics, which more than doubled after the end of one of the most intense droughts the country has experienced in decades. Furthermore, the generation biomass grew 60% and solar grew 4%. The generation wind remained stable compared to 2023″, developed the Energy Indicators report.
Likewise, and in absolute terms, the country produced the largest amount of renewable electricity of its history, which not only covered internal demand, but also allowed export 14% of the total, the third best record behind 2019 and 2021.
As for the electric mobility, The sale of electric vehicles tripled in 2024, reaching 5,735 units. This accelerated growth raised the share of this type to 8.3% of total light vehicle sales. The automobile segment grew the most, quintupling its sales and reaching 14% of the total automobiles sold in the year. For their part, electric SUVs doubled their figures compared to 2023, representing 11% of the segment’s total.
Meanwhile, the charging infrastructure continues to grow, with the inauguration of the first ultra-fast charging station in Montevideo. And the implementation of energy labeling mandatory for new light vehicles – with the details of their performance and carbon dioxide emissions – was another of the advances in terms of promoting the adoption of more efficient vehicles and more sustainable mobility.
On the other hand, last year there was also a rebound in gasoline and diesel saleswith increases of 5.5% and 7.1%, respectively. In total, 927 million liters of gasoline and 1,097 million liters of diesel were sold, although it is possible that the smallest price gap with Argentina and the fact that Uruguayans have bought in the national territory has also influenced the figures.
He supergas, For its part, it experienced its first increase in sales in 2024 after three consecutive years of declines from the peak reached in 2020, with an increase of 2.3% compared to 2023. This rebound placed the sales level slightly above that recorded in 2017.
Source: Ambito