• Argentina aims to generate a fifth of its power from renewable sources in 2025, writes Lucien Chauvin

Argus Media

BUENOS AIRES
EnergiesNet.com 07 27 2023

Argentina’s first renewable power supply auction in nearly five years allocated more capacity than it offered, a sign of the strong interest to develop renewables projects in the country. A total of 633.7MW of renewables capacity was awarded, up from the 620MW offered at the tender launch in February.

The energy secretariat in May announced that it had received 200 proposals for more than three times the capacity offered. The official results were announced on 20 July.

The awarded projects are part of the RenMDI renewables auction plan that aims to boost the share of renewables in the generating mix to 20pc by 2025. Renewables accounted for 14pc of the mix at the end of last year.

The auction was divided into two categories, one to replace existing technologies using fossil fuels and the other based on geography. The first category included 46 projects with a combined capacity of 514MW awarded to 18 companies. The projects include a biomass plant, a wind farm, three solar plants with storage, and 41 solar farms.

An 11MW solar farm drew the lowest successful bid at $56.80/MWh, while a 3MW biomass project elicited the highest successful bid at $146/MWh. Two companies, Energias Renovables Las Lomas and Coral Energia, bid for nearly half the projects awarded in this category.

The second category included 52 projects with a combined capacity of roughly 120MW distributed in 15 provinces. No project topped 12MW in installed capacity, despite rules allowing for projects of up to 20MW in this category.

The projects were awarded to 33 firms and included 24 projects using biogas technology, two biogas-from-landfill projects, seven biomass projects and 19 small hydroelectric plants. The lowest successful bid was $99/MWh for a 7.5MW small hydroelectric plant, while the highest was $189.80/MWh for a 1MW biogas plant.

Power station to station

Winning companies must sign power supply contracts with wholesale distributor Cammesa. The government aims to have the contracts ready by September and companies will have up to three years, with a one-year extension possible, to start producing electricity.

Once the contracts are signed, winning companies will be required to deposit $5,000/MW awarded, to be used to finance the construction of transmission lines. They will also have to pay $1,000/MW per quarter while plants are under construction for the first two years, $2,000/MW per quarter in the third year and, in the event of an extension, $4,000/MW per quarter in the fourth year.

Separately, Cammesa on 18 July announced that two renewables projects with a combined capacity of 458MW have been approved for construction. The first, a 158MW wind farm in Buenos Aires province, will be built by Luz de Tres Picos, a subsidiary of Argentinian petrochemical firm PCR. PCR already operates two other wind farms. The second is a 300MW solar park to be built by 360 Energy, which operates five other solar parks in the country. The firm also participated in the recent tender, winning the three solar with storage projects awarded with a combined capacity of 51.5MW.

argusmedia.com 07 26 2023