Extreme E's Uruguay finale achieves renewable power milestone

Extreme E’s 2022 season finale in Uruguay was delivered on fully renewable power for the very first time.

The series’ Odyssey 21 race cars are charged – and have always been charged – using energy from an on-site hydrogen fuel cell, the hydrogen resulting from a process powered by solar energy, while the race paddock itself is powered by a second-life battery previously from an electric bus.

But in Uruguay, every single aspect of the event was powered by renewable sources, owing to the country’s national grid which, despite the nation’s small size, is 98% derived from renewable sources. As a result, Extreme E founder and CEO Alejandro Agag was presented with a certificate from the National Administration of Electrical Power Generation and Transmission (UTE) confirming the series’ 100% renewable event in Uruguay.

Of course, Extreme E can't take the Uruguayan national grid with it to every race (the country isn't even set to feature on the 2023 schedule), but the complete clean power for the entirety of each future event will remain thanks to a new partnership with Texas-based firm Kaizen Clean Energy. KCE will provide a hydrogen microgrid solution that will travel to every Extreme E race from 2023 in a ground-breaking development for motorsport.

“Extreme E required a mobile clean energy solution that could be transported easily on the St Helena and deployed at our races in remote locations,” said Agag. “Kaizen Clean Energy’s system is perfectly aligned with Extreme E’s needs.

"Their unique hydrogen production and purification technology will enable Extreme E to charge its race fleet and support the series’ goals to take its entire event operations power off grid with 100% carbon neutral hydrogen energy – which will be a first in motorsport.”