South America Argentinia Brazil Chile Mexico Peru Uruguay back to worldmap	In 2003, SoWiTec began investigating business opportunities in South America. Some of the South American countries are demonstrating impressive economic growth rates. Most of these nations have moved from “developing country” status to “emerging market” status. Along with economic development and prosperity comes the natural increase in electricity consumption. Energy is the basic need of an economy and a critical factor for productivity and growth. The electricity sectors in major South American economies display certain similarities, revealing enormous development potential.
	While the South American financial crisis of 2001 / 2002 shook many prospering economies, SoWiTec international has selected markets which have revealed a degree of resilience and fast recovery to pre-crisis levels. The diagram indicates real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates for 2008.
	Currently, the electricity sectors of Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay are struggling to keep up with the growing demand. Industries have begun to seek options of autonomous electricity supply systems such as small hydropower plants and wind parks. Governments are bound to tap into new power sources to maintain economic growth. This phase provides very unique business opportunities for SoWiTec wind power projects. According to the Energy Information Administration, net electricity consumption has grown steadily over the past ten years in all target markets. 2006 growth figures indicated here are based on recent publications. One significant phenomenon is the structure of the electricity sector throughout the selected countries. Except for Peru, all sectors are dominated by one source of electricity. For example, generation capacity of Brazil and Uruguay is heavily based on hydropower installations. By comparison, conventional thermal generation plants fuelled by fossil fuels dominate the Chilean and Argentine energy sector. The reliance upon a single source of electricity reveals considerable drawbacks as witnessed during the drought period in Brazil or during the ongoing gas shortage and high oil prices in Chile and Argentina. Governments are under increasing pressure to diversify their electricity sectors. National legislation will have to design frameworks to promote new, sustainable sources of electricity such as wind power in the near future.