One country gets nearly 95 percent of electricity from clean sources

Rows of photovoltaic solar panels and blue sky with clouds

December 8, 2015 | Matt Mills

Uruguay is generating vast majority of electricity from renewable sources

While many countries are still actively debating the potential benefits of utilizing renewable energy and some are trying to take steps to implement clean energy sources, one country is far ahead of the game.

Uruguay is generating 94.5 percent of its electricity from clean, renewable sources. These sources include solar power, wind turbines, hydropower, and biomass.

Uruguay is now generating 95% of its electricity from renewable energy https://t.co/xNa0QTXTd4

— Quartz (@qz) December 6, 2015

Additionally, Ramón Méndez, Uruguay’s head of climate change policy, recently stated that the country would cut its carbon emissions by 88 percent by the year 2017. Méndez made these statements at the recent United Nations climate change summit.

Not only are Uruguay’s clean energy numbers eye-popping but the country has seen a lot of progress in renewable energy in a relatively short amount of time.

The Uruguay government approved a 25-year energy policy in 2008, so the turnaround has occurred in less than a decade.

“We had to go through a crisis to reach this point. We spent 15 years in a bad place,” Méndez told The Guardian. “But in 2008, we launched a long-term energy policy that covered everything … Finally we had clarity.”