Energy: Brazil and neighbors turn tentatively toward renewables

For all their differences, Brazil and its Southern Cone neighbors share a common challenge as they struggle to balance rising energy demand against resource constraints and environmental concerns. Wind and other renewable-energy sources may well be part of the solution, but so far investment in green technologies has been cautious at best. In size, composition, and structure, the countries\\u27 electricity sectors vary tremendously. Brazil, the largest country in the region, boasts what is by far the most extensive power grid in the region, with installed capacity of roughly 100,000 megawatts--more than twice the electricity available in nearby Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile combined. The sleeping giant derives much of that electricity (approximately 80%) from large-scale hydroelectric dams but also generates a modest amount of power (roughly 2,000 MW) from a pair of nuclear plants. Paraguay is even more dependent on hydroelectricity, which accounts for basically all the country\u27s installed capacity. The massive dams it shares with neighboring Argentina and Brazil even allow Paraguay to export electricity--at least during nondrought years. Argentina and Chile, in contrast, generate only about 40% of their power from dams, relying chiefly on fossil-fuel-burning generators to provide the rest